Feelings of Anger
感 愤
形 胜 崤 潼 在
英 豪 赵 魏 多。
精 兵 连 六 郡
要 地 控 三 河。
慷 慨 鸿 门 会
悲 伤 易 水 歌。
几 人 怀 此 志？
送 老 一 渔 蓑！
Gan Fen
Xing sheng xiao tong zai
Ying hao zhao wei duo.
Jing bing lian liu jun
Yao di kong san he.
Kang kai hong men hui
Bei shang yi shui ge.
Ji ren huai ci zhi?
Song lao yi yu suo!
Feelings of Anger
Outside appearances of Mt. Xiao and Tong Guan
Many brave men of Zhao and Wei.
Crack troops joined up from the six provinces
Wanted to control the lands of three rivers.
Very ardent assembly at Hongmen
Sad sorrows for the Yishui song.
How many human hearts have these ambitions?
Send off this old rain-caped fisherman to help!
Notes:
Mt. Xiao: Part of a range of mountains in western Henan Province.
Tong Guan: A strategic border fortress south of the confluence of the Yellow and Wei River in Shaanxi Province. Built in 196 AD during the Han Dynasty, it was an important military chokepoint protecting the capital city of Chang’an.
Zhao state: (403-222 BC) Northern state that was a part of the three-way partition of the kingdom of Jin. Portions of the modern provinces of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi.
Wei Dynasty: (386-534 AD) It was a unification that included most of northern China.
Six provinces: All of the Chinese provinces at that time.
Lands of three rivers: Area of Hedong, in the Hebei and Henan provinces.
Hongmen Yan : A famous banquet held in 206 BC outside Xianyang, the then capital city of the Qin Dynasty. At the feast were two major generals, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, that lead opposing insurgent armies for three years against the Qin. Their civil war eventually led to Xiang Yu’s death after the Battle of Gaixia, and Liu Bang becoming the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty.
Yishui song (poem) Written around 227 BC by Jing Ke. Jing became part of a plot to kill the emperor Qin Shi Huang of Qin. The poem foreshadowed the failure of the mission and Jing’s subsequent death.