- Spring Morning
- by Meng Haoran (689-740) of Tang Dynasty (618-907)
This spring morning in bed I’m lying,
Not to awake till the birds are crying.
After one night of wind and showers,
How many are the fallen flowers?
- Love Seeds
- by Wang Wei (701-761) of Tang Dynasty
Red berries grow in the southern land.
How many load in spring the trees!
Gather them till full is your hand;
They would revive fond memories.
- Written in a Village South of the Capital
- by Cui Hu (772 – 846) of Tang Dynasty
In this house on this day last year, a pink face vied
In beauty with the pink peach blossoms side by side.
I do not know today where the pink face has gone;
In the vernal breeze still smile pink peach blossoms full-blown.
- Happy Rain on a Spring Night (Excerpts)
- by Du Fu (712-770) of Tang Dynasty
Good rain knows its time right;
It will fall when comes spring.
With wind it steals in night;
Mute, it moistens each thing.
- Dreaming of the Southern Shore
- by Bai Juyi (772-846) of Tang Dynasty
Fair Southern shore,
With scenes I adore.
At sunrise riverside flowers redder than fire,
In spring green waves grow as blue as sapphire,
Which I can’t but admire.
“SPRING LANDSCAPE”, a poem written over 1,000 years ago, is one of China’s most celebrated literary works. Composed by the 8th Century Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, it is memorised by every schoolchild in the country. Why is the poem still so resonant today?
The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, consider whether the ambiguity of classical Chinese makes it ideal for poetry. Our deputy editor Edward Carr explores how close he can get to the poem in translation. Nicolas Chapuis, a former ambassador to China who is translating Du Fu’s complete works into French, examines the meaning of one particular couplet of the poem. And Eileen Chengyin Chow of Duke University takes us outside China’s poetry canon. Runtime: 38 min
