Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 284.
Texts are translated into modern English with maximum fidelity to the original text, except where it would impair comprehension or good style. Archaisms are preserved where they do not conflict with the aesthetic of the original text. Creative translation choices are marked and discussed in the critical notes.
The original text of this ci is based on the edition by Tang Guizhang 唐圭璋 (Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965). Punctuation follows the edition. Since ci poetry rarely includes personal pronouns, and gender-differentiated pronouns did not exist in Classical Chinese of this period, the gender of the speaker as well as their perspective (e.g. first, second or third person) must often be deduced by the translator from context.
Punctuation follows the edition.Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.
The Global Medieval Sourcebook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Huizhou, in China's far south, was considered uninhabitable due to its hot and humid weather. Northerners believed that its air contained harmful vapors.
Imagery of ice and jade was used to convey the beauty of women’s bodies, clean like ice and smooth like jade. It comes from a philosophical work by Zhuangzi, in which he uses “skin of ice and bones of jade” to describe a deity living in the Gu Ye Mountain. The phrase suggests an otherworldly quality to Zhaoyun's beauty.
According to Chinese mythology, four dragon kings control the sea, but nymphs who live beneath the waves maintain its balance. This line implies that the plum blossom/Zhaoyun was so extraordinary that even the sea nymphs sought to learn about it/her.
Refers to the plum blossom.
This image of a remarkable bird as the envoy emphasises the specialness of the object of its research: the plum blossom/Zhaoyun. The phoenix has a special significance in Chinese mythology, and the color green is often associated with purity and luxury (and the jade already mentioned).
The "dawn cloud" (曉雲, Xiao Yun) is a coded reference to Zhaoyun (朝雲): the only difference between the two Chinese words is the first character, yet these characters (曉 and 朝) are synonymous in Chinese, both meaning dawn, so the full expression means "dawn cloud" in both cases. Su Shi is using word play to hint that he’s writing about Zhaoyun.
This is a reference to a poem by a famous Tang Dynasty poet, Wang Changling 王昌龄. In the only surviving line of the poem, Wang Changling writes that after he saw plum blossoms, he dreamt of pear blossoms. By contrast, the final line here implies that Su Shi will not be dreaming of pear blossoms, i.e. he won't think of Zhaoyun (his plum blossom) and dream of another woman (a pear blossom), and will remain faithful to his memory of her.
Huizhou, in China's far south, was considered uninhabitable due to its hot and humid weather. Northerners believed that its air contained harmful vapors.
Imagery of ice and jade was used to convey the beauty of women’s bodies, clean like ice and smooth like jade. It comes from a philosophical work by Zhuangzi, in which he uses “skin of ice and bones of jade” to describe a deity living in the Gu Ye Mountain. The phrase suggests an otherworldly quality to Zhaoyun's beauty.
According to Chinese mythology, four dragon kings control the sea, but nymphs who live beneath the waves maintain its balance. This line implies that the plum blossom/Zhaoyun was so extraordinary that even the sea nymphs sought to learn about it/her.
Refers to the plum blossom.
This image of a remarkable bird as the envoy emphasises the specialness of the object of its research: the plum blossom/Zhaoyun. The phoenix has a special significance in Chinese mythology, and the color green is often associated with purity and luxury (and the jade already mentioned).
The "dawn cloud" (曉雲, Xiao Yun) is a coded reference to Zhaoyun (朝雲): the only difference between the two Chinese words is the first character, yet these characters (曉 and 朝) are synonymous in Chinese, both meaning dawn, so the full expression means "dawn cloud" in both cases. Su Shi is using word play to hint that he’s writing about Zhaoyun.
This is a reference to a poem by a famous Tang Dynasty poet, Wang Changling 王昌龄. In the only surviving line of the poem, Wang Changling writes that after he saw plum blossoms, he dreamt of pear blossoms. By contrast, the final line here implies that Su Shi will not be dreaming of pear blossoms, i.e. he won't think of Zhaoyun (his plum blossom) and dream of another woman (a pear blossom), and will remain faithful to his memory of her.
Huizhou, in China's far south, was considered uninhabitable due to its hot and humid weather. Northerners believed that its air contained harmful vapors.
Imagery of ice and jade was used to convey the beauty of women’s bodies, clean like ice and smooth like jade. It comes from a philosophical work by Zhuangzi, in which he uses “skin of ice and bones of jade” to describe a deity living in the Gu Ye Mountain. The phrase suggests an otherworldly quality to Zhaoyun's beauty.
According to Chinese mythology, four dragon kings control the sea, but nymphs who live beneath the waves maintain its balance. This line implies that the plum blossom/Zhaoyun was so extraordinary that even the sea nymphs sought to learn about it/her.
Refers to the plum blossom.
This image of a remarkable bird as the envoy emphasises the specialness of the object of its research: the plum blossom/Zhaoyun. The phoenix has a special significance in Chinese mythology, and the color green is often associated with purity and luxury (and the jade already mentioned).
The "dawn cloud" (曉雲, Xiao Yun) is a coded reference to Zhaoyun (朝雲): the only difference between the two Chinese words is the first character, yet these characters (曉 and 朝) are synonymous in Chinese, both meaning dawn, so the full expression means "dawn cloud" in both cases. Su Shi is using word play to hint that he’s writing about Zhaoyun.
This is a reference to a poem by a famous Tang Dynasty poet, Wang Changling 王昌龄. In the only surviving line of the poem, Wang Changling writes that after he saw plum blossoms, he dreamt of pear blossoms. By contrast, the final line here implies that Su Shi will not be dreaming of pear blossoms, i.e. he won't think of Zhaoyun (his plum blossom) and dream of another woman (a pear blossom), and will remain faithful to his memory of her.