Meaning: Although the heavy snow has bent the bamboo down, and the branches are about to be stained with mud on the ground, when the sky clears, the red sun rises, and the snow melts, the bamboo will still be thrown away. Burden holds your head high.
From "Ode to Bamboo" by Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty: "The branches are low under the weight of snow. Although they are not low enough to touch the mud, when the red sun rises, they are still level with the sky."
This is Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang gave bamboo a reputation for its uprightness, praising its nobility, its upright character, and its quality of not being afraid of wind, frost, and cold. At the same time, it was a metaphor for the poet's unyielding high morale.
The cultural connotation of bamboo
Bamboo has rich connotations in Chinese culture. Its "vigor" represents the literati's strong backbone, its emptiness represents the gentleman's open-mindedness, and its desolation represents the literati's unrestrained and refined nature. Therefore, most of the residences of literati were planted with bamboo.
The free and unrestrained style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties is naturally indispensable for bamboo. Ji Kang, Ruan Ji and other seven people left a lasting legacy as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest with their free and easy Wei and Jin style.
Zheng Banqiao is good at painting bamboo. He uses a brush to express himself with the integrity of bamboo. When Zheng Banqiao was an official, he was convicted of crimes for the people and his official career was not smooth, but he still maintained his integrity. This is the case with his most famous painting poem "Bamboo and Stone". The unruly Zheng Banqiao, in this poem and painting, makes the green bamboo grow tall and straight among the broken rocks, and his tenacity that is not afraid of hardships emerges vividly on the paper.