"There is no old friend when leaving Yangguan in the west." Yuan Er was ordered to go to the Anxi Protectorate as an envoy. Wang Wei went to Weicheng to bid farewell to him and wrote this poem. "Old friend" in the poem does not refer to a specific person, but to all Yuan Er's old relatives.
Original text Weicheng Song / Sending the Second Envoy of the Yuan Dynasty to Anxi
Tang Dynasty · Wang Wei
The morning rain in Weicheng is light and dusty, and the guesthouses are green and the willows are new.
I advise you to drink another glass of wine. There will be no old friends when you leave Yangguan in the west.
My old friend is about to travel far, to a borderland full of yellow sand. We say goodbye now, not knowing when we will see each other again. There are thousands of words to say, but the only thing I can say is: drink this cup of farewell wine! The feeling of farewell, all the care and blessings have already been integrated into this glass of wine. What this poem describes is the most universal parting.
It has no special background, but has its own deep feeling of farewell, which makes it suitable for singing at most farewell banquets. It was later incorporated into Yuefu and became the most popular and longest-sung song. song.