In the cold autumn of Independence, the Xiangjiang River goes north to the head of Juzizhou. See the mountains all red, the forests all dyed; the rivers full of green, with hundreds of boats vying for the current. Eagles strike in the sky, fish fly in the shallows, and all kinds of frost compete for freedom in the sky. With a melancholy outline, I asked the vast land, who is responsible for the ups and downs?
I brought hundreds of couples on a trip. Reminiscing about the glorious past. Qia's classmate is a young boy who is in his prime; he is a scholarly student and scolds Fang Qiu. Pointing out the country and inspiring words, the excrement of thousands of households. Have you ever remembered that when you hit the water in the middle of the current, the waves stopped the flying boat? "Qinyuanchun·Changsha" (1925)
Most Chinese classical poems are sad about autumn. Reading through Chairman Mao's poems, I feel that I have a special liking for autumn, probably because autumn's outline, desolation, and grandeur are more consistent with the warrior's mind and heroic spirit. The first work of Chairman Mao's poems is a hymn to autumn, a hymn to freedom, and a hymn to the glorious youth.
The autumn praised by Chairman Mao is an autumn in which "all kinds of frosty skies compete for freedom". "Mountains", "forests", "rivers", "ge", "eagles" and "fish" are the "autumn" in nature. "All kinds of people" are "competing for freedom" in this "frost sky", enjoying themselves and finding their way. "Although there are many kinds of things, man alone is the most spiritual." What about man as the spirit of all things? But they have no freedom! So the poet was "sad and melancholy". In this "melancholy" autumn, the poet's melancholy was as "melancholy" as autumn. Facing the "all kinds" of freedom and the unfree human beings, he couldn't help but be like Qu Yuan in "Tian Wen" :Ask the boundless earth, who controls the ups and downs?
When Qu Yuan asked "Heaven", he waited for "Heaven"'s answer. When the poet asked the question, the answer was clear, that is: they, these scholars in their prime, will arouse the people to dominate the ups and downs. Since the revolutionary situation was not clear at that time, the poet was "sad and melancholy".
Some people may find it strange that the first volume of Mao Zedong’s poems does not mention the country and the people. In fact, when “asking about the vast land”, isn’t it just asking me about the poor and weak land of China? Isn't it my unfree country and people that made the poet feel "sad and melancholy" because he could not "compete for freedom"? The poet's feelings of patriotism, concern for the country, and service to the country are in the same vein as those of the lofty ideals and benevolent people of the past and present, as well as the generous and tragic young poets of the past generations. With the development of the times, they have been injected with the new spirit of the times.