Wang Wei's ancient poem on the mountains is as follows:
White rocks emerge from Jingxi River, and the red leaves are sparse in the cold weather. There is no rain on the mountain road, the sky is green and people's clothes are wet.
Translation: The gurgling Jingxi River exposes the phosphorus white stone. The weather has become colder and the red leaves have become sparse. It had not rained on the mountain path, but the green mountain color was so thick that it seemed to moisten people's clothes.
This little poem depicts the mountain scenery in early winter based on what the poet saw and felt when he was traveling in the mountains.
"Jingxi White Rock Comes Out" mainly writes about streams in the mountains. Jingxi, whose real name is Changshui, also known as Chanshui, originates from the Qinling Mountains in the southwest of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, flows north to the northeast of Chang'an and joins the Ba River. What is written here is probably the upper reaches of the mountain. Mountain roads often run next to streams. When hiking, it is easy to first notice the winding and clear streams that seem to accompany people.
The weather is cold and the water is shallow, the mountain stream turns into a trickle, and the phosphorus white stone is exposed, which looks particularly clear and lovely. By capturing the main characteristics of a mountain stream in the cold winter, readers can not only imagine its clear and crystal clear color, its winding shape, but even seem to hear its gurgling sound.
"The weather is cold and the red leaves are sparse" mainly writes about the red leaves in the mountains. The gorgeous frost-leafed mangroves are a characteristic of Akiyama. As winter gets colder, the red leaves become scarce; this was originally a less eye-catching sight. But for Wang Wei, a poet and painter who is particularly sensitive to the colors of nature, a few red leaves dotted here and there on a rich mountain background are sometimes more conspicuous.
They may arouse the poet's reverie about the gorgeous autumn colors that have just passed. Therefore, the "sparse red leaves" here do not give people a sense of desolation or withering, but rather arouse the appreciation and lingering of beautiful things.