该部分包括：一首现代诗，四首融合了古典元素的现代歌词。
This part inclues: one contemporary poem, four contemporary lyrics composed with classical elements.
《在黑暗的河流上》席慕容
灯火灿烂 是怎样美丽的夜晚
你微笑前来缓缓指引我渡向彼岸
那满涨的潮汐
是我胸怀中满涨起来的爱意
怎样美丽而又慌乱的夜晚啊
请原谅我不得不用歌声
向俯视着我的星空轻轻呼唤
星群集聚的天空 总不如
坐在船首的你光华夺目
我几乎要错认也可以拥有靠近的幸福
从卑微的角落远远仰望
水波荡漾 无人能理解我的悲伤
所有的生命在陷身之前
不是不知道应该闪避应该逃离
可是在这样美丽的夜晚里啊
藏着一种渴望却绝不容许
只求 只求能得到你目光流转处
一瞬间的爱怜 从心到肌肤
我是飞蛾奔向炙热的火焰
燃烧之后 必成灰烬
但是如果不肯燃烧 往后
我又能剩下些什么呢 除了一颗
逐渐粗糙 逐渐碎裂
逐渐在尘埃中失去了光泽的心
我于是扑向烈火
扑向命运在暗处布下的诱惑
用我清越的歌 用我真挚的诗
用一个自小温顺羞怯的女子
一生中所能为你准备的极致
在传说里他们喜欢加上美满的结局
只有我才知道 隔着雾湿的芦苇
我是怎样目送着你渐渐远去
当灯光逐渐熄灭 歌声停歇
在黑暗的河流上被你遗落了的一切
终于 只能成为
星空下被多少人静静传诵着的
你的昔日 我的昨夜
一九八六年六月十一日
“Above the Dark River,” by Xi Murong
Magnificent light
How beautiful it is, tonight
You came with a gentle smile, slowly
I was guided, rowing to the opposite bank
A tide rise to its full height
it is a love that surges in my chest
What a beautiful, restless night
Please forgive that I could only sing
Calling gently
to the stars that gazing down at me
The sky where stars cluster
Could never compare to your glory
when you sit on my prow
Come close; my impossible hopes overgrow
Look up, at a humble corner
Waves ripple; no one understands my sorrow
Before falling into traps
no one knows, to shun or to flee
Alas, in such a beautiful night
a desire is hidden and forbidden
My only, only wish
is to bear a sudden love tenderly
from your sliding sight
from heart to skin
I am a moth gliding into glazing flames
destined to become ashes
after being burnt
But if I resist the burning desire
Afterwards
what would last
Except a dusty heart, losing sheen
becoming coarse and cracked, gradually
Therefore I rush into the fire
rush into the lure st in dark by the destiny
With my silvery singing
my sincerest verse
The extreme offerings that I could ever give
as a girl, meek and shy since a small age
They like to embed blissful endings to stories
Only I know
how I stared at you leaving
behind the reeds, misty and wet
When the light gradually extinguish
singings halt
Everything that left by you, above the dark river
finally, only becomes
the story passed on, silently
under the starry sky
Your Yesterday
My Last Night
6/11/1986
素胚勾勒出青花 笔锋浓转淡
On a pristine prototype, blue flowers sketched
Brush stroke turning, heavy to thin
瓶身描绘的牡丹 一如你初妆
Peony drawn on its body
Like you having a fresh makeup
冉冉檀香透过窗 心事我了然
The rising fragrance of sandalwood seeps through the window
I clearly understand your mind
宣纸上走笔至此搁一半
Half-finished, on the Xuan paper
A stroke halts
釉色渲染仕女图 韵味被私藏
Glazing a portrait of a noble lady
(Her) grace was reserved privately
而你嫣然的一笑 如含苞待放
Your beautiful smile
Resembles buds in puberty
你的美一缕飘散
Your beauty, in a wisp, drifts away
去到我去不了的地方
To the places where I cannot go
天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
The color of celeste is waiting for a rain
I am waiting for you
炊烟袅袅升起 隔江千万里
Smokes spiraling upward
Thousands li from the other side of the shore
在瓶底书汉隶 仿前朝的飘逸
Writing the Hanli calligraphy
Imitating the elegance of the previous dynasty
就当我为遇见你伏笔
As a hint, foreshadows our meeting
天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
The color of celeste is waiting for a rain
I am waiting for you
月色被打捞起 晕开了结局
The moonlight was refloated
Blends the ending
如传世的青花瓷自顾自美丽
As an extant blue-and-white porcelain
Aware of your own beauty
你眼带笑意
Your eyes reveal smiles
色白花青的锦鲤 跃然于碗底
White color, blue patterns
Koi fish jumps below the bowl
临摹宋体落款时 却惦记着你
Facsimile Song calligraphy; inscribe name
(I) think of you
你隐藏在窑烧里 千年的秘密
The secret that you have hidden in the kilning
For a thousand years
极细腻犹如绣花针落地
Fully tiny, as needles for embroidery
Falling to the ground
帘外芭蕉惹骤雨 门环惹铜绿
Outside the curtain
A banana tree runs into a sudden rain
A knocker runs into a rusty green
而我路过那江南小镇 惹了你
Passing through that small southern town,
I run into you
在泼墨山水画里
Inside the landscape painting
Ink splashed
你从墨色深处被隐去
You are concealed by the thickness of the ink
天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
The color of celeste is waiting for a rain
I am waiting for you
炊烟袅袅升起 隔江千万里
Smokes spiraling upward
Thousands li from the other side of the shore
在瓶底书汉隶 仿前朝的飘逸
Writing the Hanli calligraphy
Imitating the elegance of the previous dynasty
就当我为遇见你伏笔
As a hint, foreshadows our meeting
天青色等烟雨 而我在等你
The color of celeste is waiting for a rain
I am waiting for you
月色被打捞起 晕开了结局
The moonlight was refloated
Blends the ending
如传世的青花瓷自顾自美丽
As an extant blue-and-white porcelain
Aware of your own beauty
你眼带笑意
Your eyes reveal smiles
Jay Chou 周杰伦 is probably one of the most famous Chinese singers. He has become the leading figure since the 2000s, combining ancient Chinese music and pop music to form a style that was new in that time. His lyric composer/co-woker Fang Wenshan is also talented at combining the ancinet Chinese style of writing into his lyrics. Not like other more recent songs that are presented in this website, Fang's lyrics keeps the grammatical structure of mandarin and therefore maintains a typical style of himself. Translating Fang's work is as enjoyable as translating a contemporary poem.
一盏离愁 孤单伫立在窗口
Standing alone by the window
Parting melancholy
我在门后 假装你人还没走
Behind the door
I pretend that you are not gone
旧地如重游 月圆更寂寞
Old place, like a revisit
Full moon, more lonesome
夜半清醒的烛火 不忍苛责我
A sober candle in the midnight
Can’t bear to blame me
一壶漂泊 浪迹天涯难入喉
Roving hardship
Traveling with difficulty to drink
你走之后 酒暖回忆思念瘦
After you go
The wine warms my memory
Nostalgia declines
水向东流 时间怎么偷
Water flows eastward
How to steal time?
花开就一次成熟 我却错过
A flower blooms once for its maturity
But I missed it
谁在用琵琶弹奏 一曲东风破
Who is playing Pipa
A song called “East Wind Breaks”
岁月在墙上剥落 看见小时候
Ages peels off the wall
(I) saw childhood
犹记得那年我们都还很年幼
Still remember that year
When we were both very young
而如今琴声幽幽 我的等候 你没听过
Now, the quiet music, my wait
You haven’t heard
谁在用琵琶弹奏 一曲东风破
Who is playing Pipa
A song called “East Wind Breaks”
枫叶将故事染色 结局我看透
Maple leaves dye the story
I see through (its) ending
篱笆外的古道 我牵着你走过
The old road, outside the fence
Holding hands, I walked you through
荒烟漫草的年头 就连分手都很沉默
The year with desolate smoke, rampant grasses
Separation was mute
一壶漂泊 浪迹天涯难入喉
Roving hardship
Traveling with difficulty to drink
你走之后 酒暖回忆思念瘦
After you go
The wine warms my memory
Nostalgia declines
水向东流 时间怎么偷
Water flows eastward
How to steal time?
花开就一次成熟 我却错过
A flower blooms once for its maturity
But I missed it
谁在用琵琶弹奏 一曲东风破
Who is playing Pipa
A song called “East Wind Breaks”
岁月在墙上剥落 看见小时候
Ages peels off the wall
(I) saw childhood
犹记得那年我们都还很年幼
Still remember that year
When we were both very young
而如今琴声幽幽 我的等候 你没听过
Now, the quiet music, my wait
You haven’t heard
谁在用琵琶弹奏 一曲东风破
Who is playing Pipa
A song called “East Wind Breaks”
枫叶将故事染色 结局我看透
Maple leaves dye the story
I see through (its) ending
篱笆外的古道 我牵着你走过
The old road, outside the fence
Holding hands, I walked you through
荒烟漫草的年头 就连分手都
The year with desolate smoke, rampant grasses
Separation was
谁在用琵琶弹奏 一曲东风破
Who is playing Pipa
A song called “East Wind Breaks”
岁月在墙上剥落 看见小时候
Ages peels off the wall
(I) saw childhood
犹记得那年我们都还很年幼
Still remember that year
When we were both very young
而如今琴声幽幽 我的等候 你没听过
Now, the quiet music, my wait
You haven’t heard
谁在用琵琶弹奏 一曲东风破
Who is playing Pipa
A song called “East Wind Breaks”
枫叶将故事染色 结局我看透
Maple leaves dye the story
I see through (its) ending
篱笆外的古道 我牵着你走过
The old road, outside the fence
Holding hands, I walked you through
荒烟漫草的年头 就连分手都很沉默
The year with desolate smoke, rampant grasses
Separation was mute
This song also comes from Jay Chou and Fang Wenshan. The character 破 in the title 东风破 refers to a specific Chinese musical genre that is called 曲破 and 东风 is the name of a song written under that genre. 破 is also more commonly used as a verb which means "to break." Here, I translate 破 as a verb instead of a musical genre because I think the title is more powerful if people take 破 as a verb. Most audiences of the song might actually like the title because of the potential possibility of reading it as "The East Wind Breaks." The song narrates how the protagonist misses his past lover and feels helplessness because he could not turn back the time. Therefore, reading the title as "The East Wind Breaks" enhances the audiences' feeling of loneliness and nostalgia; also, this title implies an irreversibility of the past, through presenting a strong, destructive natural force which is beyond human control.
谁的秀发如烟
Whose silky hairs
晕染了那一年
Shaded the year
你的微笑浅浅画风很美
Your delicate smile has such a beautiful style
斗篷拂过窗沿
(When my) cloak slightly touched (your) windowsill
恰逢诗意少年
I met you, poetically juvenile
你檀香惊醒我的笔尖
My stroke was startled by your sandal smell
灯下端砚无眠
A Duan inkstone, under the lamp, loses sleep
提笔难落熟宣
A brush stroke fails, on a Xuan paper, to seep
纸上你远去唯有风挂念
You are lost, in my painting
Only the wind remembers
红叶拾起被谁
Who picked up a red fallen leaf
抖去香山残雪
Cleaned up the remaining snow from Mt. Fragrance?
画风人守白卷
I keep this unfinished painting
Attempt to capture your style
你身后风吹一夜
Behind you the wind weeps for a whole night
把初见撕成告别
Tearing the first sight into a farewell
墨未溅 昨日已层层凋谢
Ink has not splashed
Yesterday has already withered
Layer by layer
我狼毫挥尽尘缘
My Langhao brush paints through our destiny
运不回爱的瞬间
Can’t retrieve (our) instant of love
落叶倦 诗一样画风浓烈
Leaves falling, boredly
Like poetry
Styled by a heavy intensity
你身后孤心已决
Behind you a single heart becomes determined
把皓月剪成飞雪
Cut a bright moon into drifting snowflakes
人未远 昨日已冷冷湮灭
You are not far away
Yesterday has vanished, coldly
我狼毫挥尽尘缘
My Langhao brush paints through our destiny
运不回爱的瞬间
Can’t retrieve (our) instant of love
落叶倦 诗一样画风浓烈
Leaves falling, boredly
Like poetry
Styled by a heavy intensity
斗篷拂过窗沿
(When my) cloak slightly touched (your) windowsill
恰逢诗意少年
I met you, poetically juvenile
你檀香惊醒我的笔尖
My stroke was startled by your sandal smell
灯下端砚无眠
A Duan inkstone, under the lamp, loses sleep
提笔难落熟宣
A brush stroke fails, on a Xuan paper, to seep
纸上你远去唯有风挂念
You are lost, in my painting
Only the wind remembers
红叶拾起被谁
Who picked up a red fallen leaf
抖去香山残雪
Cleaned up the remaining snow from Mt. Fragrance?
画风人守白卷
I keep this unfinished painting
Attempt to capture your style
你身后风吹一夜
Behind you the wind weeps for a whole night
把初见撕成告别
Tearing the first sight into a farewell
墨未溅 昨日已层层凋谢
Ink has not splashed
Yesterday has already withered
Layer by layer
我狼毫挥尽尘缘
My Langhao brush paints through our destiny
运不回爱的瞬间
Can’t retrieve (our) instant of love
落叶倦 诗一样画风浓烈
Leaves falling, boredly
Like poetry
Styled by a heavy intensity
你身后孤心已决
Behind you a single heart becomes determined
把皓月剪成飞雪
Cut a bright moon into drifting snowflakes
人未远 昨日已冷冷湮灭
You are not far away
Yesterday has vanished, coldly
我狼毫挥尽尘缘
My Langhao brush paints through our destiny
运不回爱的瞬间
Can’t retrieve (our) instant of love
落叶倦 诗一样画风浓烈
Leaves falling, boredly
Like poetry
Styled by a heavy intensity
斗篷拂过窗沿
(When my) cloak slightly touched (your) windowsill
恰逢诗意少年
I met you, poetically juvenile
你檀香惊醒我的笔尖
My stroke was startled by your sandal smell
This song also comes from the anime "The Heaven Sings Nine Songs." This is the ending song for the anime.
让我掉下眼泪的
不止昨夜的酒
Not only for the last-night alcohol
My tears drop
让我依依不舍的
不止你的温柔
Not only for your gentleness
I am reluctant to part
余路还要走多久
How long would it take to finish the rest of the road?
你攥着我的手
Your hands wrapped around mine
让我感到为难的
是挣扎的自由
I feel difficult
For the freedom to struggle
分别总是在九月
September
The month of departure
回忆是思念的愁
Memory is a nostalgic sorrow
深秋嫩绿的垂柳
Deep autumn
The verdancy of weeping willows
亲吻着我额头
Kisses my forehead
在那座阴雨的小城里
In that misty, small city
我从未忘记你
I never forget about you
成都 带不走的只有你
Chengdu, only you
I fail to take along with my journey
和我在成都的街头走一走
Walk with me
Among these streets of Chengdu
直到所有的灯都熄灭了也不停留
Never stop
Even when all the lights goes off
你会挽着我的衣袖
You will hold my sleeves
我会把手揣进裤兜
I will plug my hands into the trouser pockets
走到玉林路的尽头
Walk till the end of Yulin Road
坐在小酒馆的门口
Sit in front of the Small Tavern
分别总是在九月
September
The month of departure
回忆是思念的愁
Memory is a nostalgic sorrow
深秋嫩绿的垂柳
Deep autumn
The verdancy of weeping willows
亲吻着我额头
Kisses my forehead
在那座阴雨的小城里
In that misty, small city
我从未忘记你
I never forget about you
成都 带不走的只有你
Chengdu, only you
I fail to take along with my journey
和我在成都的街头走一走
Walk with me
Among these streets of Chengdu
直到所有的灯都熄灭了也不停留
Never stop
Even when all the lights goes off
你会挽着我的衣袖
You will hold my sleeves
我会把手揣进裤兜
I will plug my hands into the trouser pockets
走到玉林路的尽头
Walk till the end of Yulin Road
坐在小酒馆的门口
Sit in front of the Small Tavern
和我在成都的街头走一走
Walk with me
Among these streets of Chengdu
直到所有的灯都熄灭了也不停留
Never stop
Even when all the lights goes off
和我在成都的街头走一走
Walk with me
Among these streets of Chengdu
直到所有的灯都熄灭了也不停留
Never stop
Even when all the lights goes off
你会挽着我的衣袖
You will hold my sleeves
我会把手揣进裤兜
I will plug my hands into the trouser pockets
走到玉林路的尽头
Walk till the end of Yulin Road
坐在小酒馆的门口
Sit in front of the Small Tavern
和我在成都的街头走一走
Walk with me
Among these streets of Chengdu
直到所有的灯都熄灭了也不停留
Never stop
Even when all the lights goes off
Zhao Lei is a famous ballad writer and singer in China. The song "Chengdu," with detailed description about places, objects, and actions, with a beautiful melody, has touched many audiences heart. This song, due to its popularity, has evoked many tourists' interest toward the city.
I went to Chengdu two years ago and it was indeed a quiet and beautiful city. The old residence of Du Fu, one of the greates Chinese poets in ancient China, is located there. As expressed in this song, Chengdu seems to be endowed with the maning of the past. This song, therefore, is the work that conforms to the theme in a best sense.