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Jiāng Nán ChūnSpring in Jiangnan 江南春
Du Mu's panorama of spring south of the Yangtze.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
千里莺啼绿映红
qiān lǐ yīng tí lǜ yìng hóng
水村山郭酒旗风
shuǐ cūn shān guō jiǔ qí fēng
南朝四百八十寺
nán cháo sì bǎi bā shí sì
多少楼台烟雨中
duō shǎo lóu tái yān yǔ zhōng
Simplified characters; traditional title: 江南春.
English translation
For miles and miles orioles sing amid red blooms and green trees;
By hills and shores wine shop banners wave in the breeze.
Four hundred eighty temples of Southern Dynasties,
How many towers and terraces in mist and rain one sees!
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first couplet is a bright, wide-angle view full of sound and color. The second shifts to the past and to soft focus: the old temples half hidden in rain. The 480 temples remind readers that the Southern Dynasties' rulers spent lavishly on Buddhism and still fell. The poem can be read as pure scenery or as quiet commentary on history.
Background
Written around 833 when Du Mu was traveling in the Jiangnan region. The Southern Dynasties (5th–6th centuries) built hundreds of Buddhist temples around Jinling (Nanjing).
Key words
- 莺啼 yīng tí
- orioles singing
- 酒旗 jiǔ qí
- tavern banner
- 南朝 nán cháo
- the Southern Dynasties
- 烟雨 yān yǔ
- misty rain
About the poet: Du Mu
Du Mu, grandson of a chief minister, was an official and a stylish writer of quatrains. With Li Shangyin he is known as one of the "Little Li and Du" of the late Tang, prized for vivid scenes tinged with history and melancholy.
Lifetime: 803–852. Other famous works: Written at the Wujiang Pavilion (题乌江亭); Passing Huaqing Palace (过华清宫); Qingming (清明); Spring in Jiangnan (江南春); Mooring on the Qinhuai River (泊秦淮); Mountain Walk (山行).
Names from this poem
More by Du Mu
- Mountain Walk山行
- Qingming清明
- Mooring on the Qinhuai River泊秦淮
- Written at the Wujiang Pavilion题乌江亭
- Passing Huaqing Palace过华清宫