Oct 7, 2007

Listen to Shirley Singing the Song in English Oct 7, 2007
Listen to Shirley Singing the Song In Chinese Oct 7, 2007

I have spent my holiday with an easy and happy heart. I have done many jobs on the web site and I learned my third and fourth Italian songs. I had an art lesson and I would like to create a new painting for today’s Chinese classical poem. Also, I have been preparing my second Italian song for you in Italian, English and Chinese.   

Unfortunately, a woman friend's sad experience of "love" via the Internet totally destroyed my good mood. It made me think of a poem from the most famous Chinese classical novel   Hong Lou Meng -- A Dream of Red Mansions by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer Cao Xueqin (Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in) ? The Love of the two dramatis personae was just like the flower in the mirror and the moon in the water, in the end it came to nothing.

Anyway, I really wish that all lovers could be together someday and I wish the love that anyone feels or believes to be true via the Internet turns out to be true and not in the end like a flower in the mirror or the moon in the water.   

I have translated this poem into English and sung it in both of Chinese and English. I do hope they will be a little help to you to know more about Chinese culture and to improve your Chinese listening level.

I originally learned this song in Feb, 2006 and I have provided a link below which I hope will help you to find out more about the background to the song and the writer of the lyrics:


Chinese Folk Song/ Classical Poem--0018: Wang Ning Mei -- Frowning In Vain


MAIN MEANING OF THE SONG
Listen to Shirley Singing the Song in English
Listen to Shirley Singing the Song In Chinese

One’s a flower in fairy land,
The other a flawless jade.
If we had no luck,
why have I just met him ?
If we did have luck,
why’s my love nothing to him?

Ah... Ah... Ah...

One is sighing alone,
the other missing for nothing.
One the moon in the water,
the other a flower in the mirror.
How many tears are in my eyes?
How can I be weeping from one year to the next?

  
Ah...Ah... Ah...

CHINESE CHARACTER AND PROMUNCIATION:

枉凝眉-- Wang Ningmei

曹雪芹 -- Cao Yueqin

一个是阆苑仙葩-- yige shi langyuan xian pa，
一个是美玉无瑕-- yige shi meiyu wuxia。
若 说 没 奇 缘 -- yao shuo mei qiyuan，
今 生 偏 又 遇 着 他 -- jinsheng pian you yu zhuo ta；
若 说 有 奇 缘 -- ruo shuo you qi yuan，
如 何 心事 终 虚化 -- ruhe xinshi zhong xuhua！

一个枉自嗟呀 -- yige wangzi jie ya ，
一个空 劳 牵 挂 -- yige kong lao qiangua；
一个是水中月 -- yige shi shui zhong yue，
一个是镜中花 -- yige shi jing zhong hua。
想眼中 -- xiang yan zhong，
能 有 多 少 泪 珠儿 -- neng you duoshao leizhu er？
怎经 得 秋 流 到 冬尽 -- zen jing de qiu liu dao dong jin，
春流到夏 -- chun liu dao xia！

CHINSE CHARACTERS AND PRONUNCIATION
Listen to Shirley Singing the Song in English
Listen to Shirley Singing the Song In Chinese


If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please write to shirley@ebridge.cn, or shirleyz004@yahoo.com, You are welcome to publish your opinions in Forum For Friends. :-)   

--Shirley Zhang
Written, Translated and Recorded It on Sun, Oct 7, 2007