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敕勒歌 - Chì lè Gē
南北朝 - Nán Běi Cháo (420 -589)
斛律金 - Húlǜ Jīn
敕勒川 - Chì lè chuān，
阴山下 - Yīnshāng xià。
天似穹庐 - Tiān sì qiónglú,
笼盖四野 - Lǒnggài sìyě 。
天似穹庐 - Tiān sì qiónglú,
笼盖四野 - Lǒnggài sìyě
天苍苍 - Tiān cāngcāng,
野茫茫 - Yě mángmáng，
风吹草低见牛羊 - Fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niúyáng。
天苍苍 - Tiān cāngcāng,
野茫茫 - Yě máng máng，
风吹草低见牛羊 - Fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niúyáng。
敕勒川 - Chì lè chuān，
阴山下 - Yīnshān xià。
天似穹庐 - Tiān sì qiónglú,
笼盖四野 - Lǒnggài sìyě 。
天似穹庐 - Tiān sì qiónglú,
笼盖四野 - Lǒnggài sì yě
天苍苍 - Tiān cāngcāng,
野茫茫 - Yě mángmáng，
风吹草低见牛羊 - Fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niúyáng。
天苍苍 - Tiān cāngcāng,
野茫茫 - Yě mángmáng，
风吹草低见牛羊 - Fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niúyáng。
风吹草低见牛羊 - Fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niúyáng。
|#|Chi Le Song
Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 -589)
By Hu Lǜjin
Chi Le Plain,
Lies at the foot of the Yin Mountains,
The sky is like a domed yurt, enveloping the earth.
The sky is like domed yurt, enveloping the earth.
The dark-green heavens are vast, the wilds boundless.
When the wind blows the grass low,
Cattle & sheep appear there...
The dark-green heavens are vast, the wilds boundless.
When the wind blows the grass low,
The cattle & sheep appear there...
Chi Le Plain,
Lies at the foot of the Yin Mountains,
The sky is like domed yurt, enveloping the earth.
The sky is like domed yurt, enveloping the earth.
The dark-green heavens are vast, the wilds boundless.
When the wind blows the grass low,
The cattle & sheep appear there...
The dark-green heavens are vast, the wilds boundless.
When the wind blows the grass low,
The cattle & sheep appear there...
When the wind blows the grass low,
The cattle & sheep appear there...
|#|The poem 敕勒歌Chì Lè Gē -- Che Le Song is a famous Chinese folk song that was created about 1400 years ago, in the Northern and Southern Dynasties（420-589).
It was first sung in Xianbei Language in the Northern Dynasty (386-581, it includes the Northern Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, and Northern Zhou Dynasty); and then it was translated into Chinese.
There are two opinions about its author . One opinion thinks: it was created by an anonymous person; the other opinion thinks: it was created by a military officer under the first emperor Gao Hua of the Eastern Wei -- Hu Lǜjin in 546.
Chi Le was called “Ting Ling” in the Han Dynasty （206 BC -- 221） and it was also known as Chi Le in the Wei （220-265）, Jin （265-420）and the Northern and Southern Dynasties （420 -589.
Chi Le people were famous for creating vehicles with high wheels. The largest diameter of the wheels was 1.4 meters. The height of the vehicle was similar to a horse, higher than an ox. It could go across places covered with tall grass, thick snow or swamps. So, they were also called " Gao Che -- High Vehicle" nation.
In the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. 206 BC ) and Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 221 AD) , the ancestors of the Chi Le lived in the Baikal valley. At the end of the Han Dynasty ( 206 BC -- 220 AD) and the Southern and Northern Dynasties ( 420-589 ), most of Chi Le people migrated or were forced to move to the South of the Yin Mountains -- 敕勒川 chì lè chuān -- Chi Le Plain, to be intermixed with another nomadic nation – Xianbei, which belonged to the North Wei during the Southern and Northern Dynasties ( 420-589 ).
In 534 A.D., North Wei was split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei. In 546, they went to war. The first emperor of the Eastern Wei -- Gao Huan led an army of 100,000 soldiers to fight with the Western Wei. After fighting for about 50 days, he lost 70,000 soldiers.
During the retreat, there was a rumor that Gao would die from an arrow wound he'd sustained.. In order to stabilize morale, Gao Huan gave his ministers a banquet. At the banquet, he ordered a military officer named Hu Lǜjin to create a song to encourage their soldiers who were Xianbei and Chi Le people.
When Hu Lǜjin sang the song Chi Le Song in Xianbei language, Gong Hua, his officers and all soldiers sang it with tears together. At once, the army was inspired. With so much love for the Chi Le plain which was their hometown, they defeated their enemy and recaptured the area of their nomadic life.
Since then, Chi Le Song has been loved by Chinese people for 1478 years and was sung in Han Language as well…
|#||#|With just 27 simple Chinese characters, this poem describes how vast, distant, wealthy and glorious the Chi Le Plain was, with an endless love for the extensive grassland and the footloose nomadic life.
The first two lines: 敕勒川 Chì lè chuān，阴山下 yīn shāng xià-- Chi Le Plain lies at the foot of the Yin Mountains.
敕勒 chì lè, points to a nomadic nation, the Gaoche, who were also called Ding Ling, and first appeared around Lake Baikal Valley and the basins of the Orkhon and Tura rivers; they settled at the foot of the Yin Mountains, in today's Inner Mongolia, and became intermixed with another nomadic nation – Xianbei during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589). Therefore, Chi Le also points to the place that nomadic Gaoche and Xianbei lived in. 川 chuān means plain, river; 阴山 yīnshāng -Yin Shan Mountains or Yin Mountain; 下xià means down, below, here it means at the foot of the Yin Mountains.
The Yin Mountain range is one of the ten largest mountain ranges of China. It lies across the middle of Inner Mongolia. The eastern part winds about 1200 kilometers (about 746 miles) to the northwestern part of today’s Hebei Province; the width from south to the north is 50 - 100 kilometers (30 - 62 miles). It is the northern borderline of the Yellow River valley, the boundary of the monsoon and non-monsoon regions, and also forms the borderline between the Chinese ancient nomadic culture and the agricultural culture / farm culture. A part of the Great Wall built in Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) was built on the top of the Yin Mountains.
The first six simple but quite bright sounding Chinese characters point out the geographical position and physical characteristics of the Chi Le Plain -- there is nothing to block people’s visual field. There is only the endless plain, stretching out as far as the foot of the Yin Mountains, to meet readers’ eyes.
The next two lines: 天似穹庐 tiān sì qióng lú, 笼盖四野 - lǒng gài sì yě -- The sky is just like a domed yurt covering / enveloping the earth. 天tiān means sky, heaven ; 似 sì means like; 穹庐 qióng lú means “domed yurt ”, today we call it “ Meng Gu Bao - Mongolian yurt ”; 笼盖lǒng gài means cover; 四野 sì yě means all around, here it means the earth.
You see: What a wonderful comparison that is, to say the sky is like a domed yurt. The size of a little yurt is just like the huge sky. The shape of the little yurt is also just like the huge sky. we can easily understand how Chi Le People were proud and loved their home and land.
Based on this background, the two lines paint out how extensive the sky and the land is and write about the typical life and the character of the Chi Le nation and describe a great Northern landscape for us.
The fifth and sixth lines: 天苍苍 Tiān cāng cāng, 野茫茫 yě máng máng -- The heavens are dark green and vast, the wilds are boundless “.
苍苍 cāng cāng means dark green and vast, describing how the heavens are high and vast, so that the usual blue has been changed to dark green. 野 yě means weald, wild ; 茫茫 máng máng means endless, to describe the immense open wilds.
Repeating the same Chinese characters, to emphasizes how wide and how faraway the sky is and the vastness of the plain is. Behind the surface language, indirectly, it has hinted how the Chi Le people would have the same vast chests, bold and uninhibited characteristics.
Just like a Chinese proverb said :“一方水土养一方人 yī fāng shuǐ tǔ yǎng yī fāng rén - Each place has its own way of supporting its inhabitants.” As a nomadic nation, Chi Le people certainly had wide chests like the extensive grassland; to live in the wildness, they would certainly have had strong and brave national characters; they loved Chi Le Plain not only for its beautiful view, but also, and maybe the most important reason: it was source of their livelihood.
The last line: 风吹草低见牛羊 fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niú yáng -- When the wind blows the grass low, cattle and sheep appear there.”
风fēng, means wind, breeze; 吹chuī, means blow; 草cǎo, means grass; 低dī, means low 见 xiàn, means appear, also now this character is read: jian, means see, meet; but here, you have to read it xiàn. 牛 niú, means cow, ox and cattle; 羊yáng, means sheep, goat.
Because the grass is so plentiful and lush, everything was concealed within it. Now, the wind is blowing the grass low, and the flickering sight of cattle and sheep appears everywhere.
Based on the macroscopic and static description in the first six lines, this line switches the subjects with three verbs “ 吹chuī - blow”, “ 低dī-- low” and “见 xiàn - appear” in a line containing only 7 Chinese characters with much passion, just like something going from the beginning to the end without stopping. This line pushes the poem from a static state to one of activity, from the entire general description to the detailed statement, from the surface to the inside, reaching the climax. At once, the whole of the grassland is full of the vibrancy of life.
In other words, the first 6 lines of this poem describe the plain, the great mountains, the sky and the wilds, creating a quite magnificent artistic conception, just like a play, the screen has been opened, we must see the actors or actress there, then the play can start and go on. Therefore, there is the last line, to complete the poem -- all of the descriptions of the view are focused on a group or groups of cattle and sheep.
What a wonderful writing style it is!
Maybe you would like to ask, why do they sing high praises for the Chi Le Plain as related to their life style? The domed yurt is their living place, the grassland is the source of their food and clothing, they certainly have a deep loving feeling to these things which are related to their life and fortune. Therefore, I would like to say, when they admire the plain and their cattle and sheep, they are just admiring their hometown.
For the same reason, this poem has a deeply strong national and local color.
|#|Love is just the motivation. The deep love to for the motherland of a soldier helps him to give his life to protect his country; the love to for a career of a person, helps him to give his time and energy to his work; the love for a wife or a husband, gives him or her endless power to do anything positive and helpful to the other...
As an educator, maybe we should help and train our students to have a pair of intelligent eyes, to love something or someone beautiful inside and outside, then to give themselves to help this world to be much more beautiful?
Even though this poem has existed for more than 1400 years already, every time I read it I am touched by something beautiful inside. Therefore, in Oct, 2005, on an airplane between Wuxi to Shenzhen after visiting my parents and coming back to Shenzhen, when I looked at the vast and blue sky, white floating clouds, tears could not help flowing silently down my face, so I quickly took out my notebook and wrote a piece of music to match this poem. Since then I have created seven paintings to go with the music and poem, the fourth of which I painted on Feb 20th 2014 during my fifth visit to the USA.
I do hope that my effort will be of some help to you to learn Chinese culture and in learning the Chinese language...
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or publish your opinions on the message broad on www.ebridge.cn
Shirley Yiping Zhang
Nov 4, 2016 in the USA
Oct 8, 2005 in China
Feb 23, 2014 in the USA
March 10, 2015 in China
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