[English translation] 清平誤 - Lost in Peace

歌手//Vocalist：小曲兒 (Xiao Qu'er)
作曲//Composer: Winky詩 (Winky Shi)
作詞//Lyricist: 未見釵頭鳳 (Wei Jian Chai Tou Feng)
編曲/古箏//Zither：Winky詩 (Winky Shi)
戲腔//Opera singing：穿越君 (Chuan Yue Jun)
分軌//Music track：宇恆 (Yu Heng)


***

夢裡不知身是客 一晌貪歡

In dreams my banishment was lost to oblivion, a momentary bliss stolen

昨夜小樓又東風

四十年家國 三千里地

收入誰囊中

Last night the eastern winds once more graced my idle little tower

Forty years of the kingdom, a thousand miles of land

Fallen into whose hands

南歌子裡唱啞聲

斷了琵琶畫箏

弦上血紅 無所適從

My songs I’ve sung with a voice turned hoarse 

Strings of lute and zither broken

The blood red upon these strands leaves me at a loss

一樣舞袖換唐宮

眼看他如我 江山坐擁

我卻如飛蓬

The same dancing sleeves in a changed palace

Seeing him, as I had once, seated over rivers and mountains his to belong

Yet I am like wild grass set adrift

長恨事與願難逢

偏生不擅縱橫

筆墨作劍 詞骨襟胸

A protracted grief, for things contradict one’s wish

Born without the aptitude for power plays

Only an inked brush as my sword, bare words to clothe my chest

金戈鐵馬踏碎

一場與世無爭

故人山河如夢

醒來人去階苔冷

Blades and hooves of steel have shattered 

One’s yearning to be spared from worldly strife 

Old friends and empire realms are like dreams

When I awake, they've all left, and the stony steps grow cold

落紙卷外萬般空

快過了林花謝春紅

豈是風花雪月

等閒傷情可相同

Beyond my fallen scrolls all’s but hollow 

It’s almost past time for forest blooms to shed their rouge

How is the wistfulness

Of tepid musings on fine sceneries, comparable to this sorrow?

昨夜小樓又東風

四十年家國 三千里地

收入誰囊中

Last night the eastern winds once more graced my idle little tower

Forty years of the kingdom, a thousand miles of land

Fallen into whose hands

南歌子裡唱啞聲

斷了琵琶畫箏

弦上血紅 無所適從

My songs I’ve sung with a voice turned hoarse 

Strings of lute and zither broken

The blood red upon these strands leaves me at a loss

飲宴衣裙曾連城

沉醉好偷生 銹甲忘弓

倉皇潰兵鋒

Once there had been the most exquisite banquets and robes

Indulgences make for bliss in ignorance, armours rusted, bows forgotten

In chaos my army had crumbled

最憶辭廟歎倥傯

烽火為我掌燈

無顏悲痛 羞對蒼穹

I recall most the parting with my ancestral temple, lamenting this turbulence

Signalling fires stood vigil for me

Too ignominious a sorrow, too shamed to face the heavens

金戈鐵馬踏碎

一場與世無爭

故人山河如夢

醒來人去階苔冷

Blades and hooves of steel have shattered 

One’s yearning to be spared from worldly strife 

Old friends and empire realms are like dreams

When I awake, they've all left, and the stony steps grow cold

落紙卷外萬般空

快過了林花謝春紅

豈是風花雪月

等閒傷情可相同

Beyond my fallen scrolls all’s but hollow 

It’s almost past time for forest blooms to shed their rouge

How is the wistfulness

Of tepid musings on fine sceneries, comparable to this sorrow?

未亡剩此身何用

心早死開寶八年冬

每每憑欄望穿

淚眼洇山色幾重

What use is this undead body

When my heart has long died in the eighth winter of Kai Bao

Every time I lean and look out the balcony

How heavy are the mountains colored by teary eyes

雕欄玉砌應猶在

只是朱顏改

想得玉樓瑤殿影

空照秦淮

Carved railings and jadeite steps still remain

It’s only the faces that has changed

I reminisce upon the magnificent shadow of the jade tower

Reflected upon the Huai river of a bygone dynasty

*****

Three years. It's almost three years since the Southern Tang kingdom has been annexed by the kingdom of Song. Now the realm under heaven has acquired a new name - the Great Song dynasty. The former ruler of the Southern Tang, Li Yu (李煜), sat at his writing table in the empty room, the only place he could find meager respite from his regrets and sorrows. His 42nd birthday was just around the corner.

He hadn't wanted to walk out of his city, bare naked waist up, and hand his kingdom over to his enemies. He had once said he'd rather die than to be taken prisoner. He will not shame his ancestors. Yet here he was, held captive in the capital of his conquerors, stripped of everything he had, with only an empty title left. Even his former queen, who had stuck with him through thick and thin, had been robbed by the new emperor of Song. She came crying to him after disappearing in the imperial palace for days upon the new emperor's summoning. Powerless even to protect his loved ones, his days were left with nothing but grief and humiliation.

He didn't really want to be emperor. Him ending up on the throne was, in retrospect, an unhappy accident. He had been the fifth son, but three of his older brothers died in childhood. His surviving eldest brother, Li Hong Ji, used to be paranoid that Li Yu would snatch his place. To protect himself, Li Yu threw himself in art and religion, particularly Buddhism, signalling to his brother that he had no interest in politics. Ironically, Li Hong Ji too died young, and Li Yu was made heir to a kingdom already on its sure path to downfall.

What wrong is there for a man to indulge in the luxuries life thrust upon him? What wrong is there for him to lose himself in the poems and songs he loved so dearly?

He was hardly ever cruel to anyone, so much so even the people in the streets speak of his kind and gentle nature. Despite the weakened power of the state, he was sympathetic to the plight of his people, so he still chose to reduce taxation and labor conscription. On the other hand, he tried to placate the ambitious kingdom of Song, insisting that he had no intention of competing. But alas, all his efforts had been in vain.

He used to write about the wine, the moon, beautiful women, lovers. What beauty used to exist on earth! Now they've been reduced to a dream of the past life, from which he has awaken to this desolate world.

With these in mind, he lifted his brush and wrote his final song.


Spring Flower and Autumn Moon
(To the Tune of Yumeiren)

When will the endless cycle
of the spring flower and the autumn moon
come to an end?
How much remembrance of the things past
does a heart know?
Last night, in the attic revisited
by the eastern wind,
it was unbearable to look
toward home in the fair moonlight.

The carved rails and the marble steps must remain
unchanged, but not her beauty.
How much sorrow do I have?
It is like the spring flood of a long river flowing east!”

[Translation source (by 裘小龙) with the original poem: https://www.en84.com/dianji/ci/200912/00000727.html]


It is said that the emperor of Song, Zhao Guang Yi (赵光义), or Emperor Taizong of Song (宋太宗), was furious when he heard of this, especially after Li Yu's outward expression of regret for punishing his former advisers who had urged him to change his ways. Still holding so strong a sentiment to his lost kingdom, this former king was at best a nuisance whose existence added no value to the new dynasty; at worst, a threat to the stability of the empire. The emperor has had enough.

On the night of his 42nd birthday, Li Yu had been found dead in his residence. Some sources claimed that it had been the work of Emperor Taizong, using a poison that caused tetanic spasms before it killed its victims.

Many commoners mourned for his death, for he had been kind and benevolent to them. They set up altars and offerings at home to pay him their final respect. Soon after, his former queen also passed away from grief. 

Had Li Yu been a commoner, perhaps he could have lived out his life in peace as a man of exceptional talent and character. Today, many of his poems are considered among the best of classical Chinese literature. Legendary Emperor of Ci (千古词帝; Ci being the poetry/lyrics to accompanying tunes to make a song), people granted him the honorary title. He could also be credited for the popularity of the Ci form, and its elevation in status during the Song dynasty. It used to be seen as low-brow to write Ci in comparison with Shi (诗). His achievement set the stage for the many literary giants that were to come during the Song Dynasty - Li Qing Zhao (famous female Ci poet), Su Shi, Xing Qi Ji, and many more.

In a way, he has achieved immortality in his art. May he rest in peace.

;

改編／翻唱 (Vocalist / cover)：黃詩扶 (Huang Shi Fu)

後期 (Post-production)：么嘮 (Me Lao) 

******

Translator's note:

As this relates to an actual person in history, and given the nature of his biography, I wish to give it the gravitas it deserves.

I cannot claim ability to convey in full the depth of Li Yu's beautiful poetry (many of his lines from a variety of his poems were incorporated into this song), so I went with my gut instinct with what fitted right with the mood conveyed.

E.g the last line:  空照秦淮; may literally translate to "emptily reflect upon the Huai River of the Qin dynasty" (Qin dynasty is the first dynasty where a united China is formed, so it's roughly a thousand years ago from then.) I translated it to "a bygone dynasty", as I feel for a reader unfamiliar with the history, a literal translation without context can be confusing.

Kai Bao is the name of the year given, called Nianhao (年号）. In ancient China, emperors would issue the name of the year, e.g. first year of Kai Bao, second year of Kai Bao, etc etc. The Southern Tang kingdom ended when Li Yu surrender during the eighth year of Kai Bao, in the wintry twelfth month. 

As for the title, I struggled for a long time to decide on one. At one point I thought I'd just stick with the pronunciation, with "Qing Ping Wu" as the title, but I didn't like that it informed too little for a title so rich in layers of meaning, so I simply settled for a rough one. 清平 can broadly mean peace. 误 in this context means misled, strayed, stalled; in other context it means mistake. It can be taken to mean Li Yu "lost his way in the facade of peace". "清平乐", or "Music of Peace", is the title of a popular tune at that time (just like the title of the tune to the poem above, Yumeiren*), which Li Yu had written the Ci to when he was still the ruler of his kingdom. So you can say his love for his songs and poems in the expense of his duties has led him down this tragic path.


*Yumeiren, or Beauty Yu, happens to be another name for Consort Yu, from the story of "Chess Under Heaven", during the Chu-Han contention.