A Feast on Peony Blooms at Lucky Temple
Chinese original: Su Shi (11th AC, social name 'Zizhan', art name 'Dongpo')
English translation & annotation: Julia Min (July. 2024)
The street sees jolly gents arrayed with a twist.
Peony flowers style their grey hair with regrets.
They totter and stagger on their tipsy steps,
Bead curtains all semi-rolled to miles ahead.
Notes：
1. Witten in May 1071 when Su Shi was Hangzhou’s Tongpan (a role, similar to an advisor to the Magistrate / Mayor, started in Northern Song Dynasty to supervise and control the magistrate from arbitrariness.) It is said that Su Shi and Shen Li (the Magistrate) were invited to a celebration party at Lucky Temple of Hangzhou where the peony was in full bloom. The next day, the magistrate showed him paintings of peony festival scenes. Su Shi was quite impressed and wrote this short poem right there and then.
2. Peony flowers: regarded by many Chinese as the national flower today has had a long history radiated from the Capital of Great Song, Bianliang City ( Kaifeng today). A grand flower festival was held in the most vibrant month of May. And it was quite common for gentlemen to wear a flower during the festival, though a bit amusing still, and more so when old officers like Su Shi and his peers celebrate the occasion with people in the street.
3. Bead curtains: hanging curtains decorated with beads of all kinds, often found in ancient poems and artistic works.
Appreciation:
Another good example of qijue (4-line poem with 7-character verse) which is very short but nothing short of ambition in exploring the theme to the maximum where the underlined message is far greater than four lines. A glimpse of a short moment on the street evoke in the readers’ mind a streaming of vivid imaginations about the festival – the romantic sentiments in Song’s lifestyle, the shared happiness of high-ranking officials with common people, the openness and freedom in the general governing attitude in Hangzhou. Su Shi was a celebrity but approachable, not hindered by pride and prejudice. He loved people, and was loved by people wherever he went. Today, he is probably most loved among contemporary readers as the best of what Great Song could offer.
Interestingly, the first artistic work that comes to my mind is the painting Monk Testing Wine by Antonio Casanova y Estorach.
吉祥寺赏牡丹
原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）
英译及赏析: 闵晓红(2024.07)
人老簪花不自羞，
花应羞上老人头。
醉归扶路人应笑，
十里珠帘半上钩。
Reference:
1. 徐培均《苏轼诗词选注》(上海远东出版社)
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