念奴娇.赤壁怀古 Meditating on the Past at the Red Cliff

念奴娇.赤壁怀古

原作: 苏轼（11世纪北宋）

大江东去浪淘尽，千古风流人物。

故垒西边，人道是，三国周郎赤壁。

乱石崩云，惊涛裂岸，卷起千堆雪。

江山如画，一时多少豪杰！

遥想公瑾当年，小乔初嫁了，雄姿英发。

羽扇纶巾，谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟灭。

故国神游，多情应笑我，早生华发。

人生如梦，一樽还酹江月。

Meditating on the Past at the Red Cliff

- to the tune of Niannujiao

Original by: Su Shi (11th AC, social name 'Dongpo')

English version by: Julia Min ( 2025 )

To the East Sea flows the Yangtze River,

Washing away forever, in tides of time,

All the heroes of the past we remember.

On the west side of this slopy stronghold,

Some say, in Three Kingdoms’ chaotic era,

Zhou Yu won his Red Cliff Battle on water.

What a splendid war field unfolds across --

Startling waves strike the bank like thunder.

Jagged rocks pierce the sky along the shore.

So many warriors set forth and fought here.

I recall Gongjin, a youth of radiant valour,

Newly wedded to the fair Qiao, the young sister.

With scholar’s silk cap and feather fan in hand,

He chatted at ease as he claimed a great feat:

The tides turned, sailed his burning boats over,

Cao’s fleet jammed in smoke, doomed in fire.

Here I stand, in regret, mocked by my grey hair,

Just a wanderer, simpering in his sick humour.

It’s such a dream -- life or death, loss or success.

I’d pour out wine to honour the Moon, the River.

Notes:

1. ‘some say’: the poet’s playful pretending that the original battle took place at this Red Nose Rock at Huangzhou while attributing the belief to the local people. This is not the first time Su Shi did it. If you know his stories, he did it during the Imperial Exam too. It’s a narrow escape with his naughty humour that only a character like his has the privilege of doing it without being misunderstood or condemned.

2. ‘Zhou Yu’: the registered official name, his social name being ‘Gongjin’; He was a famous general commanding a troop of 20 thousands during Red Cliff Battle.

3. ‘younger Qiao’: the younger sister of two from a local gentry family. The older sister was married to Sun Quan, the king of Wu State.

4. ‘scholar’s silk cap and feather fan in hand’: a popular image of learned scholars of the time, particularly associated to the wise man Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Han State;

For Appreciation:

If you ever read English poetry from times of glory and duty, you might have tasted the heroic poem “Battle of Malden” about the fierce battle (991 AD, England). It’s about the Saxons versus the Vikings, with lines like: “Thought shall be the harder, heart the keener,/courage the greater, as our might lessens.” Well, similar images are shown in Chinese poetry, with The Red Cliff Battle being one of the most remembered. Interestingly, whenever people mention the famous battle on the Yangtze River, the first association coming to the mind of the Chinese readers could be Dongpo’s Red Cliff in this heroic poem “Meditating on the Past at the Red Cliff” (《念奴娇.赤壁怀古》).

This celebrated poem was written in 1082, the third year of Su Shi’s exile at Huangzhou, a river town in today’s Hubei Province. His renowned meditation spot was the Red Nose Rock overlooking the Yangtze River at the time. The battlefield was deliberately depicted to evoke thoughts that support the theme. It actually occurred in 208 AD at Red Cliff in Puqi (today’s Red Cliff County of Xianling on the Yangtze River, also in Hubei Province), where Sun Quan and Liu Bei allied to fight against the formidable Cao Cao’s 200,000 warriors, with only 500,000 soldiers on their side, at Red Cliff on the Yangtze River. The victory was significant, thanks to General Zhou Yu’s extensive experience in river battles, which contrasted with Cao's troops, who were only familiar with land battles. This battle was a pivotal moment in reshaping military strategies and resolving escalating tensions between the states, paving the way for the era of the Three Kingdoms.

Again, Su Shi was holding his cup when he composed, mourning that he was insignificant compared to the heroes in the historical epics, hinting that he felt unappreciated by the Throne. This theme frequently appeared in his works during his downturn periods. His writings, along with his calligraphy and paintings, were widely admired for their artistic value, even by the emperors. It’s no wonder that Huangzhou’s Red Nose Rock was renamed ‘Red Cliff’ after this poem was published. Later generations have called it in full ‘Dongpo’s Red Cliff’.

This Ci poem has been regarded as the representative of the heroic school in ci poetry. It’s actually the very first and best ever written, and it could be the most quoted. The critics of his time and later, including Li Qingzhao, commented that Su Shi was writing ci for his poem theme, implying he misplaced his poem in the ci form, and he was not good at ci’s musical patterns and metres. Li insisted that heroic style should be only for poems, while ci should focus on the elegant, the clever, the pretty, and delicate sentiments suitable for the saloons and drawing rooms of the gentry. Her works can indeed stand as the best evidence of her theory. It’s like what the English would think about song lyrics and poetry, where the main difference is that the lyrics are set to music. “Once words have begun to be accommodated to music, they display … not only lilt and balance, but tone and quality … They are more carefully chosen than other words” (C.M. Bowra, Primitive Song) Nonetheless, a great mind like Su Shi can’t be expected to be governed by contemporary rules and etiquettes, as the then Prime Minister Wang Anshi once said (“礼岂为我辈设哉”). For him, the theme was his primary concern; everything else served only as supporting devices. If an existing one didn’t serve the purpose, he’d create one that did, leading to the birth of the heroic school of ci poetry, or you might see it as the heroic school opposed to the sentimental school of Romanticism.

· Other translators’ work for your reference:

Memories of the Past at Red Cliff

Tune: "Charm of a Maiden Singer"

By Xu Yuanchong

The Great River eastward flows,

With its waves are gone all those

Gallant heroes of bygone years.

West of the ancient fortress appears

The Red Cliff. Here General Zhou won his early fame

When the Three Kingdoms were all in flame.

Jagged rocks tower in the air,

Swashing waves beat on the shore,

Rolling up a thousand heaps of snow.

To match the hills and the river so fair,

How many heroes brave of yore

Made a great show!

I fancy General Zhou at the height

Of his success, with a plume fan in hand,

In a silk hood, so brave and bright,

Laughing and jesting with his bride so fair,

While enemy ships were destroyed as planned

Like shadowy castles in the air.

Should their souls revisit this land,

Sentimental, his wife would laugh to say,

Younger than they, I have my hair all turned gray.

Life is but like a passing dream,

I'd drink to the moon which once saw them on the stream.

Reference:

1. Blooming Alone in Winter by Gordon Osing, Julia Min and Huang Haipeng published by the People's Publication House Henan Province in 1990 (《寒心未肯随春态》戈登.奥赛茵，闵晓红，黄海鹏)（"Eastward flows the River, washing away in waves /Forever all the Heroes of the past. /On the west side of this old fortress, some people say, /General Zhou fought his Red Cliff Battle, in the time of Three Kingdoms./Roiling clouds are cut by savage cliffs, walls of water destroy the shore,/Throw up mist thick as a blizzard. /The River and the mountains make a magnificent scene! /How many heroes from the past are lost to us! // Long ago, when Gongjin was young, /And had just taken Little Qiao to wife… /Heroic, brilliant, with feathered fan and black silk, striped kerchief, /He laughed and talked on as the enemy’s warships’ smoke and ashes flew windward. /Visiting this old world now, how Zhou would laugh at my simpering, /Me, with grey hair far too soon from thinking. /It is such a dream. /I pour out my cup to honour the moon in the river. "）

2. The original calligraphy by Su Dongpo himself;

3. painting by Luo Zhenxian (罗振贤）from Google；

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