Six Dynasties Style (excerpts)
I) Love of Xie Anshi
You marshal your legions
Finally I lay down
the piece I’ve been holding off from playing
Let armies overrun the land
Let the winds howl and the cranes shriek
our blood reveling in the certainty of victory
The lines of black and white I tread
can reduce a rock to rubble
a world to dust
II) The Deer-Tail Fan
Wave your fan and the magic bird appears
Look up the next moment and it’s gone
There is no snow, and the moss from the trees
is carpeting the bamboo mats
The things you love are leaving
and quietly your thoughts return
You carry off a world in your empty sleeves
Wave your fan and the magic bird appears
Strangers will smile at you warmly
You might encounter the unimaginable
Wave your fan and the magic bird appears
Everything is only ending or beginning
The wind blows from sometime, somewhere
We dwell in the country of silence
Heaven’s signs become unknowable
Wave your fan and the magic bird appears
Translator’s note: These poems evoke a certain outlook or way of being associated with the scholars and writers of the Six Dynasties period (220-589 AD), a period of great political turmoil and intellectual ferment. Xie Anshi (320-385, also known as Xie An) was a courtier famous for masterminding a decisive military victory against overwhelming odds. The deer-tail fan (zhuwei) is associated with qingtan, a salon-like gathering featuring philosophical debate that is emblematic of the freewheeling style of the times. Both of these poems contain numerous allusions to the historical anecdotes that gave rise to these archetypes; the translation aims simply to convey the logic of the images and the poems’ overall theme, symbolism, and emotional tenor.
About the translators
Austin Woerner is a Creative Fellow in Chinese-English literary translation at the University of Leeds.
Zheng Wanqi is an MA student currently enrolled in the English Literature course at the School of English, University of Leeds.