[updated September 2022]
Traveling Late in the Year
岁 晏 行
岁 云 暮 矣 多 北 风
潇 湘 洞 庭 白 雪 中。
渔 父 天 寒 网 罟 冻
莫 徭 射 雁 鸣 桑 弓。
去 年 米 贵 阙 军 食
今 年 米 贱 大 伤 农。
高 马 达 官 厌 酒 肉
此 辈 杼 轴 茅 茨 空。
楚 人 重 鱼 不 重 鸟
汝 休 枉 杀 南 飞 鸿。
况 闻 处 处 男 女
割 慈 忍 爱 还 相 庸。
往 日 用 钱 捉 私 铸
今 许 铅 锡 和 青 铜。
刻 泥 为 之 最 易 得
好 恶 不 合 长 相 蒙。
万 国 城 头 吹 画 角
此 曲 哀 怨 何 时 终 ？
Sui Yan Xing
Sui yun mu yi duo bei feng
Xiao xiang dong ting bai xue zhong
Yu fu tian han wang gu dong
Mo yao she yan ming sang gong
Qu nian mi gui que jun shi
Jin nian mi jian da shang nong.
Gao ma da guan yan jiu rou
Ci bei zhu zhou mao ci kong
Chu ren chong yu bu chong niao
Ru xiu wang sa nan fei hong
Kuang wen chu chu xxx nan nu
Ge ci ren ai huan xiang yong.
Wang ri yong qian zhuo si zhu
Jin xu qian xi he qing tong
Ke ni wei zhi zui yi de
Hao e bu he chang xiang meng
Wan guo cheng tou chui hua Jiao
Ci qu ai yuan he shi zhong?
Traveling Late in the Year
Late in the year sunset, a lot of northern wind
Xiao and Xiang Rivers, snow covered along Dongting Lake.
Cold skies, fishermen’s nets frozen solid
Remote, native people use their bows of mulberry wood to shoot the
honking wild geese.
Last year’s rice expensive, it was food for the army and
palace gate watchtowers
This year’s rice so cheap, the farmers are deeply wounded.
Government officials and their tall horses bored with wine and meat
Women of my class without food, trees, and supplies needed to spin their silk cloth.
Chu people are used to eating fish, not accustomed to eating birds
They kill geese flying south in order to eat and sell to the government.
Heard their situation so desperate, young boys and girls are being
sold everywhere
Broken hearted, their little loved ones are sold to pay the land tax.
In the past, some discovered to have secretly minted counterfeit coins
Now the coins are made with lead and tin along with the copper.
Making clay molds, people easily melt and recast the old and new coins
Both good and evil deceptively use one copper coin to make five more.
Widespread rebellion throughout the country
When will our songs of sorrow ever end?
Notes:
Xiao River: Tributary to the Xiang River in the province of Hunan.
Xiang River: Located in Hunan province, and the largest tributary to the Changjiang (Yangzi River).
Dongting Lake: Flood basin for the Changjiang and located in northeast Hunan Province.
Chu: Ancient kingdom and nation state during the Zhou Dynasty (1030- 223 BC).
Widespread rebellion: This was the time when families were selling their children in exchange for counterfeit coins.
Commentary:
Hard for some of us to believe that there were times in Chinese history when parents sold their children in order to obtain food to survive, and to pay their taxes. Their debasement of the coined money is another form of desperation. The Romans did it after the republic, and during the decline of their empire. Here in the USA, we removed gold from our circulated coins in 1933, and then again silver was removed from our coins starting in 1965. As they say, some things never seem to change. That’s the way it is.