阳关曲·赠张继愿 An Ode to Emperor Zhang Jiyuan

阳关曲·赠张继愿

原作：苏东坡 (11世纪)

英译：闵晓红（2022）

受降城下紫髯郎，

戏马台南古战场。

恨君不取契丹首，

金甲牙旗归故乡。

An Ode to Emperor Zhang Jiyuan

-       to the tune of Yangguan

Written by: Su Shi ( 11^th AC)

English trans. by: Julia Min (2022)

In Three Surrender Towns stood the purple-beard man,

on the old battlefield by the south of Reviewing Stand.

I lament that Jiyuan did not claim every Qidan head,

before his gold armour and banners returned homeland.

Notes：

1.  Three Receive-Surrender Towns: According to the Ancient Tang Book, there was a man named Zhang Jiyuan who had three towns built in the year 707 to protect the Tang’s north border.

2.  Reviewing Stand: the big stand for reviewing cavalry, built by Xiang Yu, who once fought a famous battle here with Liu Bang, the Han Emperor, hence ’the old battlefield’.

3.  Qidan: a barbarian minority in the north of the Liao State in the late Yi Dynasty;

Appreciation:

This poem was composed in 1078. In its opening two lines, Su Shi looks back with a sigh toward the Tang dynasty, an era remembered for its strong frontier defences and formidable military preparedness against northern invasions.

Zhang Jiyuan, praised in the poem, was credited with a remarkable strategic design: a defensive system comprising three interconnected frontier cities spanning hundreds of kilometres along the northern reaches of the Yellow River. These fortifications were arranged so that if invaders breached the first city, the residents could withdraw safely to the second, preserving both manpower and morale while exhausting the enemy. The system stood as a symbol of Tang military ingenuity and resolve.

Against this historical backdrop, Su Shi offers an implicit critique of his own time. What has declined is not merely the physical condition of the Three Surrender Cities but the Song dynasty’s overall military strength and political will. The poem’s lament—“I lament that Jiyuan did not claim every Qidan head”—is less a call for bloodshed than an expression of frustration with missed resolve and unfinished defence.

The Khitan (Qidan) were a powerful northern nomadic people, founders of the Liao dynasty, and persistent military adversaries of the Song. By invoking them, Su Shi sharpens the contrast between past firmness and present hesitation. The poem thus serves not only as an ode to a historical figure but also as a measured, ironic admonition: when defensive strength weakens, symbolic victories replace decisive action.

Through compressed imagery and historical allusion, Su Shi transforms a short poem into a meditation on decline, responsibility, and lost momentum, revealing his enduring concern for the state's fate even when writing in a restrained, classical voice.

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) (“To Zhang Jiyuan - to the tune of Yangguan: At the City-That-Knows-No-Defeat stood steadfast Zhang,/South of the reviewing stands at the old battlefield scene./I hate that you didn't take all the Qi Dan's heads./Your gold armor and flagstaffs covered with teeth, they came home clean.”)

2. pictures from google

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