[updated September 2022]
Zhejiang Field Worker Chant
吴 中 田 妇 叹
今 年 粳 稻 熟 苦 迟
庶 见 霜 风 来 几 时。
霜 风 来 时 雨 如 泻
杷 头 出 菌 镰 生 衣。
眼 枯 泪 尽 雨 不 尽
忍 见 黄 穗 卧 青 泥！
茅 苫 一 月 垅 上 宿
天 晴 获 稻 随 车 归。
汗 流 肩 赪 载 入 市
价 贱 乞 与 如 糠 粞。
卖 牛 纳 税 拆 屋 炊
漉 浅 不 及 明 年 饥。
官 今 要 钱 不 要 来
西 北 万 里 招 羌 儿。
龚 黄 满 朝 人 更 苦
不 如 却 作 河 伯 妇。
Wu Zhong Tian Fu Tan
Jin nian jing shu ku chi
Shu jian shuang feng lai ji shi.
Shuang feng lai shi yu ru xie
Pa tou chu jun lian sheng yi.
Yan ku lei jin yu bu jin
Ren jian huang sui wo qing ni !
Mao shan yi yue long shang su
Tian qing huo dao si che gui.
Han liu jian cheng zai ru shi
Jia jian qi ma ru kang xi.
Mai niu na shui chai wu chui
Lu qian bu ji ming nian ji.
Guan jin yao qian bu yao mi
Xi bei wan li zhao qiang er.
Gong huang man zhao ren geng ku
Bu zhi que zuo he bo fu.
Zhejiang Field Worker Chant
This year the autumn rice is late
Common people see that the frosty winds have not arrived.
When these winds come, they do so with heavy downpours
Making the sickles rust, and other tools grow fungus.
Eyes with dried up tears, yet the torrential rains continue
Painful to see the yellow tassels lying in the mud with still-green stalks!
One-month old temporary thatched lean-to for the workers
to bivouac and stay overnight
Sunny skies bring a harvest, loaded carts return home.
Sweat flows, red shoulders carry buckets to carry the small surplus to market
Prices very low, almost like selling broken chaff.
Sell the ox to pay taxes, take apart the house in order to cook a meal
Cannot think of next year’s hunger, only consider today’s empty stomachs.
Now the government wants only cash payments, not rice
Thousands of miles to the northwest, we make allies with the Qiang people
The palace insiders fancy themselves as good as the people like
Gong and Huang
But they are like the ancients who sacrificed local maidens, throwing them into the river.
Notes:
Zhejiang: Prosperous province 0n the central coast.
Qiang people: Ancient tribe in western China. The original Tibetan people.