hán shí
Cold food
èr yuè jiāng nán huā mǎn zhī, tā xiāng hán shí yuǎn kān bēi.
In February, the branches in the south of the Yangtze River are full of flowers, and the cold food in a foreign country is far from sad.
pín jū wǎng wǎng wú yān huǒ, bù dú míng zhāo wèi zǐ tuī.
Poor people often have no fireworks, not only in the Ming Dynasty. Extended information
1. Meng Yunqing’s ancient poem about cold food with pinyin version
hán shí
Cold food
táng dài ：mèng yún qīng
Tang Dynasty: Meng Yunqing
èr yuè jiāng nán huā mǎn zhī, tā xiāng hán shí yuǎn kān bēi.
In February, the branches in the south of the Yangtze River are full of flowers, and the cold food in a foreign country is far from sad.
pín jū wǎng wǎng wú yān huǒ, bù dú míng zhāo wèi zǐ tuī.
Poor people often have no fireworks, not only in the Ming Dynasty.
2. The meaning of Meng Yunqing’s ancient poem on Cold Food
Translation
In February, the branches of Jiangnan flowers are in full bloom. It is sad enough to celebrate the Cold Food Festival in a foreign country.
People who live in poverty usually don’t make a fire to cook, and they don’t just eat cold food like Zitui tomorrow.
day". Later, it was cold food on the day before Qingming.
February: Cold food occurs one hundred and five days after the winter solstice. If the winter solstice falls in early November, or there is a leap month between the winter solstice and February of the next year, the cold food will be in February.
No fireworks: Fires are prohibited during the Cold Food Festival, but poor people often have no food to cook, so there is no fire.
Ming Dynasty (zhāo): tomorrow.
Zitui: Jie Zitui, a native of the Spring and Autumn Period. He fled abroad with Chong'er, the prince of Jin Dynasty, for nineteen years. Later, Chong'er returned to his country and became the king (i.e. Duke Wen of Jin). He rewarded the meritorious officials and forgot about him. Jie Zitui lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan (now Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province). Duke Wen searched for him everywhere but could not find him, so he burned the mountain in search of him and was burned to death. In order to commemorate him, later generations did not set off fireworks during the Cold Food Festival.
3. Appreciation of Meng Yunqing's ancient poem about cold food
Appreciation
"In February, the branches in the south of the Yangtze River are full of flowers, and the cold food in a foreign country is far sad." The first two sentences of this little poem In other words, in February, the branches of Jiangnan flowers are in full bloom. It is sad enough to spend the Cold Food Festival in a foreign country.
The Cold Food Festival takes place one hundred and five days after the winter solstice, in February of spring. Due to the warm climate in Jiangnan, the branches are already full of flowers in February. The first sentence of the poem describes the phenology and seasons. The word "Man" conveys the feeling of blooming flowers in the spring of Jiangnan. It's quite natural to be moved by the scene like this. What should be matched with this kind of good time and beautiful scenery should be enjoyable, but the second sentence unexpectedly says "sad". The author is a native of Kansai, traveling to the south of the Yangtze River, alone in a foreign land, as a stranger. During the cold food festival, I miss my loved ones more than ever, and I can't help but feel sad. In addition, the "cold food" here also implies eating little or no food, which is a pun, so the "cold food" in other places is even more sad.
Poems often use sad scenes to describe sorrow, which is the artistic technique of foil. However, this poem describes the beautiful scenery of "flowers blooming in the south of the Yangtze River in February" before writing "the cold food in a foreign country is far away and sad". Facing the blossoming scenery in a miserable situation, it is easy to be different from normal sentiments. It is "the flowers are close." "Tall buildings hurt the hearts of guests", and happy scenes can only multiply their sorrow. Appropriate use of contrasting artistic techniques can make expressions more powerful.
"Poor people often have no fireworks, not just for Zitui in the Ming Dynasty." People living in poverty usually don't make fires for cooking, and they don't just eat cold food like Zitui tomorrow.
This poem uses "cold food" to describe the bitterness of poor people, but it does not make a big fuss about the word "poor". Let’s take a look at Zhang Youzheng of the late Tang Dynasty’s “Cold Food Day Presenting to the County Sheriff”: “It’s a shame to laugh at the beginning and then to be pitiful, three paths are barren of moss and one fishing boat. I feel ashamed that my neighbors teach me to stop the fire, and I don’t know that there has been no smoke in the kitchen for a long time.” Living in poverty and smokelessness, the artistic conception clearly shows traces of imitating Meng Shi's poems. However, it meant too much to talk about poverty. After counting the family property, it didn't count. It just said "laughable" and "pathetic", and then "ashamed"; after it said "cut off the fire", it said "no smoke". Not only are the words and sentences boring, but they are also artificial and not very touching. Far inferior to Meng Yunqing's poem, although it writes about a sad reality, the tone is humorous. The third and fourth sentences seem to be the author's self-deprecation: Everyone in the world is preparing to turn off the fire for the cold food of the Ming Dynasty to commemorate the ancestors; but a poor man like me lives a "cold food" life every day, so there is no need to bother. This kind of humor is a kind of wry smile, which seems to be understatement, but it is interesting and conveys a kind of sadness that grabs people's hearts.
This shows that poetry should never be overly revealing and should be subtle and tasteful. And it is precisely because of the novel meaning of this poem, the ingenious conception, especially the appropriate use of contrasting techniques, that it is both humorous and solemn, and is entertaining to chew on, which makes it a rare masterpiece among countless cold food poems.
Creative background
The specific creation time of this poem is unknown. After Meng Yunqing failed in the imperial examination during Tianbao's reign, he lived in Jingzhou and lived an extremely poor life. On the eve of the Cold Food Festival in such a wandering life, he wrote this quatrain.
Meng Yunqing
Meng Yunqing (725-781), courtesy name Shengzhi, was born in Pingchang, Shandong (now northwest of Shanghe, Shandong). During the Tianbao period, he went to Chang'an to take the examination but failed, and he was promoted to Jinshi after he was 30 years old. During the reign of Suzong, he was the school secretary. There are 17 poems in existence. His poems reflect social reality in simple and unpretentious language, and are highly praised by Du Fu and Yuan Jie. Meng Yunqing and Du Fu had a close friendship. In the summer of 758 (the first year of Qianyuan), Du Fu served as the Huazhou company and joined the army. He drank and said goodbye the night before leaving, and gave him a poem as a gift, which is "Reward Meng Yunqing". In the winter of the same year, they met in Luoyang and had a drink together at Liu Hao's home. Du Fu also wrote the poem "In the eastern suburbs of Shishi at the end of winter, I met Meng Yunqing east of the city lake, and returned to Liu Hao's house to stay, and the banquet was over because of drunken singing", describing the scene of this encounter where each other's joys and sorrows were mixed, and expressing the poem's expression. Sincere feelings between friends.