Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia
Cai Yan
Series: Complete Collection of Frontier Poems
Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia
When I was born, I did nothing. After I was born, Han Zuo declined. The heaven is unkind and brings chaos, and the earth is unkind and brings me to this moment. The roads are dangerous when fighting, and the people are in exile, and the country is sad. The smoke and dust cover the fields, barbarians are abundant, and the will and integrity are at a loss. It is not appropriate for me to deal with the secular world. Who should I sue if I am insulted? The zither plays for a while, the harp plays, and no one knows the resentment in my heart.
Rong Jie forced me to become a family member and led me to the end of the world. Thousands of clouds and mountains are on my way home, and the wind is blowing thousands of miles away, and the dust and sand are flying. When there are many people, they are violent and fierce like adder; when they control strings and are covered with armor, they are arrogant and extravagant. The two beats are stretched, the strings are broken, the ambition is broken, the heart is broken, and I feel sad.
Crossing over the Han Kingdom and entering the city of Hu, losing one’s family and one’s virginity would be worse than living without one. The felt fur is used as clothing and my flesh and bones are shocked, and the odor is used as a taste, which is in vain to contain my feelings. The sound of drums and drums has been loud since the night, and the wind has been blowing loudly in the dark camp. The sadness of the present and the past are made in three shots. When will the sadness and hatred of animals be calmed down?
There is no day or night when I don’t miss my hometown, and I am the most miserable when my temperament is full of energy. The country is in chaos due to natural disasters and the people have no masters, but I am miserable and have no soldiers or captives. The world is different, the mind is different, the body is in trouble, the desires are different, who can talk to him! There are many difficulties and obstacles in thinking and going through it, and it becomes more and more miserable when the four shots are completed.
The wild geese are marching to the south in order to send their thoughts to the border areas, and the wild geese are returning to the north in order to obtain the Chinese sound. The wild geese fly high and are hard to find, and I feel empty and heartbroken, thinking about it. I raise my eyebrows towards the moon and caress the elegant harp, and the five beats are lulling and the meaning is profound.
The body is bitterly cold due to the biting frost, and I am hungry and cannot eat meat and cheese. At night I hear the sound of the Long River whimpering, and in the morning I see the Great Wall and the long road. Reminiscing about the past, it is difficult to carry luggage, and the six beats are sad and I want to stop playing.
At dusk, the wind makes sad sounds everywhere, I don’t know who the sad heart is talking to! The wilderness is desolate and the beacons are garrisoned for thousands of miles. The old and weak are vulgar and the young and strong are beautiful. Wherever there are water and grass, homes and fortresses are built, and the fields are full of cattle and sheep, gathering like bees and ants. The grass has dried up and the water has dried up, the sheep and horses have all moved away, and Qipai Liu hates living here.
If God has eyes, why not see me drifting alone? If God has a spirit, why should I be so far away from home? I don't live up to the sky. How can the sky be worthy of me? If I don't live up to God's will, why will God punish me by crossing the barren state? I made eight beats here to relieve my worries, but I didn't know that when the song was completed, my heart turned to worry. (Center)
The sky is endless and the earth is boundless, and my heart is full of sorrow. Life is fleeting, like the passing of a white horse, but I will not be happy until I am in my prime. I am resentful and want to ask the sky, but there is no chance in the sky. Looking up at the clouds and smoke in the sky, who can pass on the sentiments?
The beacon fire on the city wall has never been extinguished. When will the battle on the battlefield stop? Murderous aura rushes towards the door, and Hu Feng blows the moon every night. There is no sound in my hometown, and I am crying in silence and I am about to lose my breath. A life of hard work brings separation, and deep sorrow brings tears of blood.
I am not greedy for life but hate death. I cannot give up my body because my heart is full. If you are still alive, you still hope to return to your hometown. If you die, your bones will be buried for a long time. The sun lives in the moon, Zhu Xi lives in the army base, and the barbarians dote on me. I have two sons. If you raise a child, you will not be ashamed; if you think of it, you will grow up with contempt. There are ten beats, and the sound of mourning is lingering and piercing the heart.
The east wind is blowing and there is a lot of heat. I know it is the emperor of the Han Dynasty who is coming to Buyanghe. The Qiang and the barbarians are dancing and singing, and the two countries are having fun and are not fighting. Suddenly I met an envoy from the Han Dynasty and called me Jinzhao. He sent me a thousand gold coins to redeem my concubine. I am happy to be alive and meet the sage, but I regret to say goodbye to the childish person for no reason. Ten times out of ten, there are both sorrow and joy, but it is difficult to describe the two emotions.
It doesn’t matter that I am still alive, but I have to return home. I hug my beard and wet my clothes with tears. The envoys of the Han Dynasty came to welcome me, and who knew the number of Hu'er? At this time of my life and death, I am worried about being a son and the sun will not shine. How can I have wings to bring you back? One step at a time, it's hard to move, the soul disappears and the shadow is gone, the love is left behind. Three times out of ten, the beat of the strings is urgent and sad, and the liver and intestines are stirred and stabbed. I don't know.
When I return home, I don’t want my children to follow me, and my heart is hung up as if I’m hungry. All things in the four seasons have their ups and downs, but my sorrow will not change for a while. The mountains are high and vast, so I can't wait to see you. Even late at night, I dream of you. When I hold my hand in the dream, I am happy and sad, and when I feel it, my heart aches and there is no rest. Four times out of ten, I shed tears, and the river flows eastward, thinking about myself.
Fifteen beats, the rhythm is fast, and the breath fills the chest. Who knows the music? The place is in the dome of the hut and there are special customs. I am willing to come back, God will follow my desires, and I will be happy and satisfied when I return to the Han Dynasty. My heart is pregnant but my sorrow becomes deeper. The sun and moon are selfless but never come. It is difficult to separate mother and son. They are separated by the same sky and across the distance like ginseng. Where can we find each other if we do not know each other between life and death?
At sixteen, I was thinking a lot, and my son and I were on separate sides. The sun in the east and the moon in the west look at each other, but we cannot follow each other. We are empty and heartbroken. I will never forget the day lily, but it will hurt my love to play the piano! Farewell now, I return to my hometown. Old grievances are settled, but new grievances are growing! Weeping blood, I raise my head and complain to the sky. I am the only one who suffers from this disaster!
Seventeen beats make my heart and nose sad, and the mountains block the repairs and it is difficult to travel. When I left, I felt homely and careless, and when I came back, I was filled with thoughts of farewell. Stuffed with dried branches and leaves of mugwort, the bones of the battlefield are covered with scars from swords and arrows. The wind and frost are biting and the spring and summer are cold, and the people and horses are hungry and their muscles are weak. Little did he know that when he entered Chang'an again, he sighed and burst into tears.
The original version of Hujia comes from Huzhong, and the melody is the same when translated by Yuanqin. Although the song ends in eighteen beats, the sound is lingering and the thoughts are endless. This is how we know that silk and bamboo are delicate and all the work of nature. Sadness and joy are all according to people's hearts. If they change, they will be normal. Hu and Han are in different lands and have different winds. The sky and the earth are separated by the west and the east. My bitterness and resentment are as vast as the sky. Although the heaven and earth are vast, I cannot tolerate them!
Appreciation
"Eighteen Beats of Hujia" is a touching and eternal masterpiece, and its author is Cai Wenji.
When appreciating this poem, do not read it as ordinary written literature, but think of it as Cai Wenji, an unfortunate woman, playing and singing to herself, and the sound of the piano is flowing with her thoughts. With the sound of piano and singing, we seem to see her walking on a long road paved with humiliation and pain...
She began to appear against the background of the great turmoil of the times, and clicked " The background of "Chaoli": the barbarians are strong, wars are all over the country, and the people are in exile. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos. Eunuchs, relatives, and warlords took control of the government one after another. Peasant uprisings, warlords' melees, and foreign invasions continued one after another. Poems written in the late Han Dynasty include "The armor is alive with lice, and all the surnames are dead. The bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no roosters for thousands of miles." etc., are all true portrayals of the turmoil at that time. Cai Wenji was plundered and carried away to the west by Hu Qi during the chaos of war.
Being kidnapped was the beginning and the source of her painful life. Therefore, the second beat of the poem is dedicated to describing her situation during her captivity. In the tenth beat, she uses the phrase "a life of hard work". "Separated by destiny," indicates that the unhappiness in life comes from being taken into captivity. During the twelve years when she was forced to stay in the southern Xiongnu, she suffered tremendous pain in life and spirit. The nature of Hu Di is harsh: "the wind is vast", "the frost is biting", "the wilderness is depressed", and "the running water is whimpering". The exotic life is incompatible with her. Wearing clothes made of fur makes my heart beat with fear: "The felt fur is used as clothing, and my bones and flesh are shocked." Feeding on meat and milk, the fishy smell is unpleasant and cannot be swallowed. , migrate in search of water and grass, and live in temporary shacks built with straw rafts and dried cattle and sheep dung; when they are excited, they play drums and dance, singing and dancing, all night long. In short, she could neither adapt to the harsh natural environment of the Hu land nor tolerate the living habits of the Hu people who were very different from the Han people. Therefore, she sang about the pain of "the world is different, the heart is different, the body is in trouble, the tastes are different, who can talk to me" What made her most miserable was the mental aspect.
Mentally, she suffered double humiliation: as a Han, she became a captive of the Hu people; as a woman, she was forced to marry the Hu people. The connotation of the so-called "good will and moral integrity" in the first shot refers to this double humiliation. When she was suffering both physically and mentally, missing her motherland and wanting to return home became the most important spiritual force that supported her to live strong. The main content from the second to the eleventh shot is to write about her homesickness. The fourth beat is "Never mind my homeland day and night", the tenth beat is "My hometown is so far away from the sound of dust, I cry silently and I am dying", the eleventh beat is "I still hope to survive and return to my hometown". , are all touching words that directly express nostalgia. The most touching expression of nostalgia is the fifth beat. In this shot, Cai Wenji used her persistent affection to carve out a distant and profound scene: in autumn, she looked up to Lan Yao, expecting the geese flying south to carry her thoughts from the border; in spring, she looked up at the clouds, hoping The geese returning from the north bring news of their homeland. But the wild geese flew away from the factory so high that they were hard to find. She couldn't help but feel heartbroken and in ecstasy... In the eleventh shot, she revealed her inner secret of enduring humiliation and living an ignoble life: "I am not greedy for life but hate death. I can't sacrifice my life because I have my heart. I still hope for success in life and return to my hometown, but I will bury my bones until I die." "Finally, she survived twelve long years, and her long-cherished wish to return home was fulfilled. "Suddenly she met an envoy from the Han Dynasty and called me Jinzhao, and sent me a thousand gold coins to redeem my concubine." But this joy is fleeting. At the same time, a new cloud of sadness came to her mind. She thought that the day she survived was also the day she said goodbye to her two biological sons. It is said in the twelfth shot: "I am so happy to be alive because I meet the Holy King, and I say farewell to the childishness for no reason. There are two shots out of ten where the joy and sorrow are equal, and it is difficult to express the two feelings when they are gone." It is this kind of ambivalence. Be frank. From the 13th shot onwards, Cai Wenji switched to the description of being unable to bear to be separated from her son. She swallowed every word she spoke and felt deep in her bones. The thirteenth shot is about farewell, and the fourteenth shot is about thinking about a child's dream, "Cuddling my beard, weeping and soaking my clothes. ... One step at a time, it's hard to move my feet, my soul is so lost, my love has moved away.", "Mountain The high ground is so vast that I can't wait to see you, and even more late at night, I dream of you here. In my dream, I hold my hand and feel happy and sad, and when I feel it, my heart aches and never rests. "It's so touching and touching. Fan Shiwen of the Song Dynasty said this in "Night Talk to the Bed": "This is about to return to the other side. At that time, I experienced the pain, and the words spoke to my heart. I am resentful and angry, and I think about it with sadness, and it will remain as new for thousands of years; I will use the holy pen of the scriptures to write it. I can't bear to delete it." Cai Wenji's feelings and pain of separation have always accompanied her when she left Hu Di and returned to Chang'an. The humiliating life is over, but a new misfortune: the pain of missing parents and children has just begun. "Hu and Han are in a foreign land with special winds, and the sky and the earth are separated from each other by the son to the west and the mother from the east. The bitterness and resentment of me are vast in the sky. Although the world is vast, the suffering cannot be tolerated." The whole poem begins with emotions surging like a frenzy. Finally, Cai Wenji's tragic life journey of complaining to heaven was completed.
"Eighteen Beats of Hujia" not only reflects Cai Wenji's bad luck, but also reflects her talent. "Eighteen Beats of Hujia" has a strong subjective lyricism in the creation of the protagonist, Cai Wenji's own artistic image. This is also true in the narrative. It tells that she was taken away to the west and gave birth to two sons in the Hu land. When I return home and re-enter Chang'an, I sing and sigh deeply. For example, when she was taken captive to the west, she said: "Thousands of clouds and mountains met us on the way back, and the wind was blowing thousands of miles away, and the dust and sand were blown up. There were so many people, they were as violent as wild snakes, and it was arrogant and extravagant to control the strings and be armored." Cai Wenji's clear love and hatred are revealed everywhere. Emotions - the sentence "Yunshan" is connected with the thoughts of homeland, and the sentence "Blast" is related to the pain of the road. The strong subjective expression of emotion is mainly reflected in the suddenness of emotional expression.
Cai Wenji's feelings often come and go suddenly, with unpredictable changes. As the saying goes, "Thinking has no place." Just after reaching the sea, Yaochi was rebuilt. Moreover, the poem points the finger directly at the sky and gods: "Heaven is unkind, so he sent chaos, and the earth is unkind, so that I can meet at this time." "Because the sky has eyes, why don't you see me drifting alone? Because God has a spirit, what should I do with Haibei Tian?" Nantou? If I don’t live up to the sky, how can the sky match me? If I don’t live up to the gods, why should they cross the barren state?” Sending the gods to the dock reflects Cai Wenji’s “The sky is boundless and the earth is boundless.” , I feel sad again, and my mood is "bitter, my resentment is as vast as the sky".
The artistic value of "Eighteen Patterns of Hujia" is very high. Lu Shiyong, a native of the Ming Dynasty, said in "A General Theory of Poetry Mirror": "Tokyo style is declining, Cai Wenji is talented and heroic. Reading "Yin of Hujia", It can make people sit upright in shock, and make gravel fly by themselves. It is really a passionate embrace."
The high artistic value of "Eighteen Beats of Hujia" is related to Cai Wenji's talent. Cai Wenji's talent is due to her. Caused by family background and social background.