送子由使契丹 Upon Ziyou’s Departure as an Envoy to Khitan

送子由使契丹

原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）

英译: 闵晓红(2024.01)

云海相望寄此身，哪因远适更沾巾。

不辞驿骑凌风雪，要使天骄识凤麟。

沙漠回看清禁月，湖山应梦武林春。

单于若问君家世，莫道中朝第一人。

Upon Ziyou’s Departure as an Envoy to Khitan

Chinese original: Su Shi (11th AC, social name 'Dongpo')

English translation: Julia Min (Jan. 2024)

North to south, a sea of clouds will set us apart.

No need for tears over shared distance, near or far.

Ride on, braving frost and snow in desert wind,

And outsmart ‘The Chosen’ with a scholar’s art.

As you look back at the moon on Forbidden Place,

Let the hills and lakes of home light your dreamy face.

Should the king wish to know our family’s standing,

Don’t hint we’re in the Middle Kingdom’s first place.

Notes:

1.     Ziyou: the social name of Su Shi’s brother Su Zhe, also starting with ‘zi’, like Su Shi’s social name ‘Zizhan’, which defines the same generation.

2.     Khitan: a nation of herdsmen tribes in the north of the Song territory that established itself as Liao State for about 200 years. Strong in fighting on horseback, it had been a threat to the Song along the northern borders. A peace agreement was reached between the two countries, under which the Song contributed silk and silver to the Liao each year.

3.     ‘The Chosen’: the Xiongnu (Huns) claimed themselves as the tribe chosen by Heaven, their God. Here, the term refers broadly to the Qidan rulers.

4.     The Forbidden Place: referring to the Royal Palace in Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song, also the centre of the Middle Kingdom (present-day Kaifeng).

Appreciation:

1089 saw Su Shi’s return to govern Hangzhou for the second time amid his second rise in political status after his first banishment to Huangzhou. He was fifty-eight years old then, still the same man with the same character and eloquence, but now touched with more confidence and caution. As the Senior Scholar of the Hanlin Academy (翰林大学士)—similar to today's Secretary General of State—Su Zhe was sent by the Emperor to Qidan to celebrate the birthday of the Huns' Chief of State. It was a humiliating period in history when the Song, an old empire, had to pay tribute to a new nation of barbarian tribes.

Su Shi had every reason to feel concerned for his dear brother, as Qidan men had killed ambassadors before. Yet the last couplet is often singled out by critics for its bold claim that the Su family was the first in the Song. Modesty is embraced in Chinese culture as a very important virtue of a gentleman, so critics would comment that he shouldn't say it—even though the Su family was and had always been so throughout history, with three Su gentlemen in the "Eight Greatest Minds of the Tang and the Song": Su Xun (the father), Su Shi (the older son), and Su Zhe (the younger son).

The translation can stand alone as a cohesive work—faithful to the original's tone, supported by clear historical and cultural notes, and framed by an appreciation that highlights the poem's subtle tension between brotherly concern and quiet family pride.

Reference:

1. baikebaidu.com 百度百科

2. picture from 知乎@榆木斋