Feb 4, 2013

48cm x 195.00cm( 18.89inches x 76.77inches)

Listen to Shirley Singing the Poem in Chinese Feb 4, 2013
Listen to Shirley Singing the Poem in English Feb 4, 2013

Listen to Shirley Singing the Poem in English Nov 18, 2007
Listen to Shirley Singing the Poem in Chinese Nov 18, 2007

Listen to Shirley Explaining the Lyric & Follow Shirley to Read It
Learn the Meaning of the Poem with Shirley Together


See Shirley's Painting for the Lyric Feb 3, 2013
See Shirley's Painting for the Lyric Jan 5, 2012
See Shirley Created Picture for the Lyric July 19, 2008

This is my 84th Combined Paintingthat I have created / painted for Chinese Classical Poetry, and my 780th painting since 2003 ; also, it is my 175th assignment in Chinese National Academy of Arts.

This is the 4th time that I painted a picture to match the Chinese lyric poem Xiang Jianhuan - Joy in the Meeting by Li Yu ( 937 - 978).

Main Meaning of the Poem

Xian Jian Hua --Joy in the Meeting

By Li Yu ( South Tang )

Silent, climb the west tower alone,
to see the moon like hook.
Lonesome phoenix tree in the deep yard
is locked in the fall/autumn.

Can’t be cut to sever,
Can’t be combed clear,
It is the grief of parting.
An unspeakable taste is in my heart.

Silent, climb the west tower alone,
to see the moon like hook.
Lonesome phoenix tree in the deep yard
is locked in the autumn.

Can’t be cut to sever,
Can’t be comb ed clear,
It is the grief of part ing.
An unspeakable taste is in my heart.


Chinese Characters & Pronunciations :

You can clink any Chinese Character to open the New Character Board and to see its Chinese pinyin, meaning, pronunciation and follow me to read them, also, you can hit the links over to enter the Language Column, to read my painting for the poem

相见欢

李煜 （南唐）

无 言 独 上 西楼，
月如钩。
寂寞梧桐深院锁清秋。

剪不断，
理 还 乱，
是离愁。
别是一番滋味 在心头。

Instead of expressing a happy feeling as the title shows, but it express the deep pain of Li Yu as a captive emperor.

Because the title Xiang Jian Huan - Joy at Meeting is just the name of the tune to which ci （Lyric） poem was composed, it is called Ci Pai.

Ci Pai stipulates the form and regulation of a Chinese lyric poetry, for example, how many words in a lyric, how many lines, what are the tones and the rhymes and so on in the lyric.

There are more than 1000 Ci Pai and tunes of the Chinese lyric poems.

Many of them originally related to the content when they were created at the first time, along with the time, the relationship between the original name of the Ci Pai and the content has gotten loose and loose, and even no any relationship at all. Just use the tune to compose and write.

The meaning of this lyric and its name of the tune has no any relationship at all. The meaning of the title of the Ci Pai and the content is in fact opposite.

Meanwhile, with a wonderful language skill,it expresses the abstract feeling of human being with a very visual words.

Since phoenix is a lucky bird in Chinese culture and it was symbolized the monarch, therefore, I painted this painting and make the bird to express the feeling of human being in a moon night. :-)

I translated this lyric into English and created 3 paintings to match the meaning of the lyric and the music in 2007, 2010 and 2012 and wrote an article to explain the meaning of the lyric.

This week, I corrected the article, re-painted the painting and re-sang the lyric in Chinese and in English.

I really hope that my effort will be some help with you to learn Chinese culture and language

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or shirleyz004@yahoo.com ,you can also publish your opinions on Message Board . :-)

--Shirley

Feb 5, 2013