What does Red Star and Purple Smoke mean?

"Red stars and purple smoke" means red stars splashing and purple smoke steaming.

This sentence comes from "Seventeen Songs of Qiupu·Fourteen" written by the poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty.

Original text:

The fire is shining on the sky and the earth, and the red stars are scattered with purple smoke.

On a bright moonlit night, Nanlang’s songs move Hanchuan.

Translation:

The furnace fire shone across the sky and the earth, red stars splashed everywhere, and purple smoke steamed. The songs of the copper smelting workers resounded through the cold valley on a bright moon night.

Notes:

1. Qiupu: County name. In the Tang Dynasty, it first belonged to Xuanzhou and then to Chizhou, in the west of Guichi County in present-day Anhui Province. Qiupu is named after the Qiupu River flowing through the west of the county.

2. Fire: In the Tang Dynasty, Qiupu was a copper-producing place. This refers to the furnace fire where copper is smelted.

3. Nanlang: a red-faced man. This refers to copper smelting workers. Nan originally refers to blushing due to shame. This refers to the face being reflected red by the fire.

Appreciation of "Seventeen Songs of Qiupu·Fourteen"

"Seventeen Songs of Qiupu·Fourteen" is a poem that positively describes and praises smelting workers , is relatively rare among the vast collection of classical poetry in China, and is therefore extremely valuable. "The fire shines on the sky and the earth, and the red stars are scattered with purple smoke." At the beginning of the poem, a smelting scene with bright colors and warm atmosphere is presented. The poet uses two seemingly ordinary words, "photo" and "chaos", but once they are refined into the poem, the smelting scene becomes brilliant. Through this vivid scene, it is not difficult to feel the novelty, excitement and wonder of the poet.

This is a magnificent picture of smelting on an autumn night. Under the poet's magical brush, light, heat, sound and color are intertwined and reflected, light and dark, cold and hot, movement and stillness are set off, which vividly and vividly expresses the fiery labor scene and vividly shapes the ancient smelting workers. The image is indeed a brilliant artistic treasure in the treasure house of ancient poetry.

The above content refers to Baidu Encyclopedia-Seventeen Qiupu Songs·Fourteenth