What is the Meaning of Emperor

《好了歌》解注

Explication to the song of rise and fall

lòu shì kōng táng，dāng nián hù mǎn chuáng!

陋室空堂，当年笏满床!

Incredibly, the humble rooms and shabby hall

Had once been fill’d with audience tablets and all!

shuāi cǎo kū yáng，céng wéi gē wǔ chǎng。

衰草枯杨，曾为歌舞场。

And where poplars wither and grasses rankly grow

There had been held many a pompous show.

zhū sī ér jié mǎn diāo liáng，lǜ shā jīn yòu hú zài péng chuāng shàng。

蛛丝儿结满雕梁，绿纱今又糊在蓬窗上。

Cover’d with spider’s webs the painted beams are now seen;

But what us’d to be a shabby window is hung with curtains green.

shuō shèn me zhī zhèng nóng，fěn zhèng xiāng，rú hé liǎng bìn yòu chéng shuāng？

说什么脂正浓，粉正香，如何两鬓又成霜？

Didn’t she oft boast of her rosy face and buoyant youth with delight?

Alas, her temple hair has so soon turn’d frost white!

zuó rì huáng tǔ lǒng tóu sòng bái gǔ，jīn xiāo hóng dēng zhàng dǐ wò yuān yāng。

昨日黄土陇头送白骨，今宵红灯帐底卧鸳鸯。

When he buri’d the dead yesterday, what sorrowful tears he shed!

And yet tonight he’s embracing his bride in the luxurious shed!

jīn mǎn xiāng，yín mǎn xiāng，zhuǎn yǎn qǐ gài rén jiē bàng。

金满箱，银满箱，转眼乞丐人皆谤。

His suitcases have been cramm’d with silver and gold.

Why! In a twinkling he becomes a beggar people scold.

zhèng tàn tā rén mìng bú cháng，nà zhī zì jǐ guī lái sàng！

正叹他人命不长，那知自己归来丧！

ov’r the other’s untimely death he had sigh’d,

Who could imagine that, when he got home, he himself di’d?

xùn yǒu fāng，bǎo bú dìng rì hòu zuò qiáng liáng；

训有方，保不定日后作强梁；

Many a good father finds himslef stricken with grief

O’er his well-bred sons turning a thief;

zé gāo liáng，shuí chéng wàng liú luò zài yān huā xiàng！

择膏梁，谁承望流落在烟花巷！

And one who chooses to marry his daughter above

Ne’er anticipates that she is to be reduc’d to a soil’d dove.

yīn xián shā mào xiǎo，zhì shǐ suǒ jiā káng；

因嫌纱帽小，致使锁枷扛；

Listen, there are still those officials who have spar’d no pains

To seek higher ranks and who are now in chains.

zuó lián pò ǎo hán，jīn xián zǐ mǎng cháng。

昨怜破袄寒，今嫌紫蟒长。

Yesterday you loathed your ragged coat for its lack of strength,

Today you dislike your purple python robes for their length.

luàn hǒng hǒng，nǐ fāng chàng bà wǒ dēng chǎng，fǎn rèn tā xiāng shì gù xiāng；

乱哄哄，你方唱罢我登场，反认他乡是故乡；

In chaotic contention you crazily yourselves engage;

Hardly has one play’d his part when the other steps onto the stage.

shèn huāng táng，dào tóu lái dōu shì wéi tā rén zuò jià yī shang！

甚荒唐，到头来都是为他人作嫁衣裳！

How absurd ‘tis that others should, in the final analysis, use and wear

The trousseaux which you have exerted yourself to prepare!

The poet-Cao Xueqin had an involved family history: his ancestors had been Hans, but later became bannermen of the Man Nationality. One of his ancestors came south of the Great Wall with Qing conquerors and settled down in Hebei. Favored by the royalty, Cao’s forefathers had consecutively held the position of Textiles Commissioner of Jiangning(a prefecture which included the now nanjing and six contiguous countries).

When Yongzheng rose to power in the fierce struggle among the royalty for the claim to the throne, the Cao family began to take a turn for the worse. In 1727, it was charged with the crime of embezzling public funds and consequently Cao Xueqin’s father was moved from office and the estates of the family were confiscated. Then the family moved to Beijing, began to show some signs of revival after Emperor Qianlong was crowned but declined again not long afterwards. Later, when he commenced to write the world-famous novel A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin was reduced to living in poverty-stricken circumstances.

It is beyond the necessity and capacity of this book and its writer to give a comprehensive appraisal of Cao’s A Dream of Red Mansions, a social-political-pyschological novel which has survived the times. What can be said here is, it is an encyclopaedia of feudal China and a manifestation of human knowledge and intellect. Its meaning is profound and manifold. By recounting the rise and fall of an illustrious family it truthfully reflects the social contradictions of the time, penetratingly exposing the evils of the feudal system and of man himself.

In the novel the author’s immense knowledge-his knowledge of medicine, architecture, horticultures, culinary art, and of man and society, etc. – is brought into full play. As far as verse is concerned, the author has achieved such a height of thought and artistry as few other poets of the Qing Dynasty have attained to.

The present song is taken from Chapter I. It is the explication by Zhen Shiyin(one of the characters) of the lame Daoist’s “Song of Rise and Fall”. Through the mouth of Zhen the author expresses his philosophy of life-which is based on the idea of change-and his attitude towards the reality of the last autocracy of feudalism, in which the conventional morality is collapsing and the conflicts arising from the redistribution of power and wealth are intensifying. In this song profound thoughts are expounded by means of simple terms and typical images. The perfect unity of the refined and the popular demonstrates the author’s wonderful mastery of the language.