Poetry of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the first Chairman of the Communist Party of China and leader of the People's Republic of China for nearly 30 years, wrote poetry, starting in the 1920s, during the Red Army's epic retreat during the Long March of 1934-1936, and after coming to power in 1949. In spite of Mao's political radicalism he was artistically conservative, opting to use traditional Chinese forms.
Overview
Mao's poems are in the classical Chinese verse style, rather than the newer Modern Chinese poetry style. Mao is probably not one of the best Chinese poets, but his poems are generally considered to have literary quality. Arthur Waley, the eminent British translator of Chinese literature, however, described Mao's poetry as "not as bad as Hitler's paintings, but not as good as Churchill's."[1]
Like most Chinese intellectuals of his generation, Mao immersed himself in Chinese classical literature. His style was deeply influenced by the "Three Lis" of the Tang Dynasty: poets Li Bai, Li Shangyin, and Li He. He is considered to be a romantic poet, in contrast to the realist poets represented by Du Fu.
Mao's poems are frequently quoted in popular culture, literature and daily conversations. Some of his most well-known poems are "Changsha" (1925), "The Double Ninth" (1929.10), "Loushan Pass" (1935), "The Long March" (1935), "Snow" (1936.02), "The PLA Captures Nanjing" (1949.04), "Reply to Li Shuyi" (1957.05.11), and "Ode to the Plum Blossom" (1961.12).
Poems
Changsha (1925)[2]
Informal Translation:[3] Changsha[4] In the (rhyme) pattern of Qinyuanchun[5]
Alone I stand in the autumn cold
On the tip of Orange Island,
The Xiang flowing northward;
I see a thousand hills crimsoned through
By their serried woods deep-dyed,
And a hundred barges vying
Over crystal blue waters.
Eagles cleave the air,
Fish glide under the shallow water;
Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom.
Brooding over this immensity,
I ask, on this bondless land
Who rules over man's destiny?
I was here with a throng of companions,
Vivid yet those crowded months and years.
Young we were, schoolmates,
At life's full flowering;
Filled with student enthusiasm
Boldly we cast all restraints aside.
Pointing to our mountains and rivers,
Setting people afire with our words,
We counted the mighty no more than muck.
Remember still
How, venturing midstream, we struck the waters
And the waves stayed the speeding boats?
Orange Island is an island in the middle of Xiang River, in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. Mao attended Hunan First Normal University around 1912-1917.
Yellow Crane Tower (1927)[6]
Yellow Crane Tower, a building at the bank of Yangtze River in Wuhan, is very famous in Chinese history and literary tradition. It is one of the Four Great Towers of China. Its fame mainly comes from a poem written by Cui Hao in early Tang Dynasty, part of which is:
The yellow crane has long since gone away,
All that here remains is Yellow Crane Tower.
The yellow crane once gone does not return,
White clouds drift slowly for a thousand years.
Mao later discussed the historical context of this poem's writing: "At that time (1927), the Great Revolution failed, I was very depressed and didn't know what to do, so I wrote this poem".
Jinggang Mountain (1928)[7]
This poem was written in the Jinggang Mountains,[8] where Mao organized a Red Army to fight KMT forces after 1927. Jinggang Mountains is a mountain area at the border of Jiangxi province and Hunan province. It is there Mao began to experiment his theory of guerrilla war. He was quoted as:"When we can beat the enemy, we fight. When we can't beat them, we run".
Line 5: From Huangyangjie roars the thunder of cannons,
Huangyangjie[9] is the place where the Red Army beat the KMT army after a fierce battle.
The Warlords Clash (1929)[10]
In 1929, Mao's Red Army left Jinggang Mountains and marched eastward to the western part of Fujian province and built their base there.
Line 3-4:
The warlords are clashing anew --
Yet another Millet Dream.
In 1929 Chiang Kai-shek's KMT army began war with Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan's armies in north China. That's why Mao said "the warlords are clashing anew", and "Millet Dream" meant Jiang, Feng and Yan's ambitions were just dreams. And Mao thought he could take this opportunity to his advantage when most of KMT army went to fight elsewhere.
Line 5-6 : Ting River[11] is a river in Fujian, both Longyan[12] and Shanghang[13] are cities in Fujian.
The Double Ninth (1929.10)[14]
Double Ninth Festival, also called Chongyang,[15] is a Chinese holiday. By tradition on September 9 (Chinese Lunar Calendar) each year, Chinese people would climb to the peaks of nearby mountains, looking far away, thinking about their family members who are travelling in other places.In addition, during that day, people will drink wine made from chrysanthemum to pray for longevity. Therefore, in 1980s, Chinese government set that day as old people's day as well to call on people to respect the senior.
New Year's Day (1930.01)[16]
Line 1: Ninghua,[17] Qingliu,[18] Guihua[19] are all places in Fujian
Line 4: Wuyi Mountain[20] is a mountain in Fujian.
On the Guangchang Road (1930.02)[21]
Title: Guangchang[22] is a city in Jiangxi, it was called the "North Gate" of CPC's Jiangxi Soviet.
March from Tingzhou to Changsha (1930.07)[25]
Title: Tingzhou[26] is a town in Longyan City, Fujian province, Changsha[4] is the capital of Hunan province. At that time the Red Army tried to take Changsha, but they failed. Fujian is at the east, Hunan is at west, so Mao's army marched westward.
Huang Gonglyue[27] was an important military leader in the Red Army, he was killed a few years later in battle.
Against the First "Encirclement" Campaign (1931)[28]
During 1931-1934 Chiang Kai-shek's KMT government organized five so-called "Encirclement" campaigns on CPC's Jiangxi Soviet in Southeastern China. The first four all failed. Mao led the Red Army beating the first three campaigns, then he was relieved of leadership due to internal power struggles of the CPC. Zhou Enlai and Zhu De led the Red Army to beat the fourth campaign, but they failed the fifth time, and was forced to leave their base and began Long March.
Line 5: Zhang Huizan,[29] the KMT general who led the first "Encirclement" Campaign. He was killed after being captured by the Red Army.
Line 10: Buzhou Mountain,[30] a legendary mountain in Chinese forklore. It is said Buzhou Mountain was one of the four pillars supporting the sky. A giant called Gong Gong[31] quarreled with the gods. He was very angry and banged his head against Buzhou Mountain. Buzhou Mountain was broken, thus the sky tilted and water poured from heaven, causing a huge flood on earth. Here Mao expressed his appreciation for Gong Gong's rebellious spirit.
Dabodi (1933)[33]
Dabodi is the site of a battle which actually took place at the beginning of 1929. The background: at that time, Mao's Red Army had left Jinggang Mountains to look for a new base. Red Army was beaten several time by the pursuing KMT army. They used up all ammunitions and were starved. Then on the New Year of 1929 they fought a desperate fight in the snow at Dabodi, using stones and bare hands, and beat their enemy. Mao revisited this place several years later and wrote this poem.
Loushan Pass (1935)[35]
This is a famous poem written during Long March. Loushan Pass is a place in Guizhou, where a fierce battle was fought.
Three Short Poems (1934-35)[36]
This poem is also known as "the Three Songs."[37] It is written as three poems with sixteen characters each. This poem was written sometime between 1934-35 during the Long March.[38]
Mountain.
I whip my quick horse and don't dismount
and look back in wonder.
The sky is three feet away.
Mountain.
The sea collapses and the river boils.
Innumerable horses race
insanely into the peak of battle.
Mountain.
Peaks pierce the green sky, unblunted..
The sky would fall
but for the columns of mountains.
The Long March (1935)[39]
This poem was written toward the end of 1935 when the Long March was almost finished. In it Mao listed some places Red Army had travelled through. Five Ridges and Wumeng are both big mountains in southwestern China. Jinsha is actually another name for certain parts of Yangtze River. Dadu River is at the west part of Sichuan, here in a heroic fight, 22 volunteers carried out a suicide attack on the KMT garrison across the iron-chained Luding Bridge and saved the Red Army from being destroyed. The Min Mountains are a mountain range at the Sichuan-Gansu border area, is already close to the end of Long March's route. To get rid of the pursuing KMT army, the Red Army had to climb over its 13000-foot peak and many froze to death on it.
The original poem written by Mao
Informal Translation:
The Long March[40]
at the patten of Qilu[41]
The Red Army fears not the trials of the Long March,
Holding light ten thousand crags and torrents.
The Five Ridges wind like gentle ripples,
And the majestic Wumeng Mountain roll by, globules of clay.
Warm the steep cliffs lapped by the waters of the Jinsha,
Cold the iron chains spanning the Dadu River.
Min Mountains' thousand li of snow joyously crossed,
The three Armies march on, each face glowing.
Actually, the Long March was done by three CPC armies separately. One was Mao's 1st Red Army from Jiangxi Soviet, another was Zhang Guotao's 4th Red Army from Hubei soviet, the third one was He Long's 2nd Red Army from west part of Hubei. Here, Mao was glad all three Red Armies were together.
Kunlun (1935.10)[42]
The Kunlun Mountains[43] are a mountain range on the upper reaches of the Hotan River in Xinjiang Province, Northwestern China. According to Chinese folklore they (or a different, mythological mythical Kunlun Mountain) were once the residence of a number of gods.
Mao added annotations to this poem, commenting "An ancient poet said, 'Three million dragons of white jade are fighting, their broken scales fly all over the sky. In this way he described the flying snow, but here I have used it to describe snowy mountains. In summer, when one climbs the Min Mountain, one looks out on far mountains that seem to dance and shine in dazzling whiteness. There was a saying among the people that years ago the Monkey King (Sun Hsing-che) passed by, all the mountains were on fire. But he borrowed a palm-leaf fan and quenched the flame and that is why the mountains froze and turned white."[38]
Mount Liupan (1935.10)
"Mount Liupan"[44] was written in late 1935 after the Red Army almost finished the Long March. Mount Liupan is a mountain in northwestern China.
Line 3: If we fail to reach the Great Wall we are not men, (不到长城，非好汉)
This quote inspires the millions of tourists who visit the Great Wall every year.
Snow (1936.02)
This is Mao's most famous poem. Written in 1936, it was not published until he went to Chongqing in 1945 to hold peace talks with Chiang Kai-shek. He presented it to Liu Yazi, a poet whom Mao had met in Guangzhou in the early 1920s and who, like Mao, favored the traditional ci and lü forms. It caused a stir among Chinese intellectuals for its frank presentation of Mao's ambitions. Now, it is widely studied by students in Mainland China.
Below is the original poem in Chinese with both a literal English translation and a metric adaptation[45] using one iamb per Chinese character:
- 沁园春·雪
- 北国风光，
- 千里冰封，
- 万里雪飘。
- 望长城内外，
- 惟余莽莽；
- 大河上下，
- 顿失滔滔。
- 山舞银蛇，
- 原驰腊象，
- 欲与天公试比高。
- 须晴日，
- 看红装素裹，
- 分外妖娆。
- 江山如此多娇，
- 引无数英雄竞折腰。
- 惜秦皇汉武，
- 略输文采；
- 唐宗宋祖，
- 稍逊风骚。
- 一代天骄，
- 成吉思汗，
- 只识弯弓射大雕。
- 俱往矣，
- 数风流人物，
- 还看今朝。
- Qinyuanchun: Snow
- The scene of the country's north,
- Sealed in ice for one thousand li,
- Snow floating for ten thousand li.
- Looking both within and outside the Great Wall,
- All that is left is an empty expanse.
- Up and down the Yellow River,
- The rapids have halted.
- Like silver serpents the mountains dance,
- Like wax-colored elephants the highlands gallop,
- Seeking to challenge the Heavenly Duke in stature.
- Given a clear day,
- The sight of red and white robes,
- Is incomparably enchanting.
- Such a delicate landscape,
- Inspired numberless heroes to arch their forms at the waist.
- Such a shame that Qin Huang and Han Wu,
- Lacked literary talent;
- Tang Zong and Song Zu,
- Lacked playfulness.
- One era's arrogant son of Heaven,
- Genghis Khan,
- Only knew how to draw his bow and shoot condors.
- They are to be put in the past,
- As in counting great people,
- One must look back to the present.
- Snow
- My country’s northern scenery:
- A thousand li encased in ice,
- Ten thousand li of swirling snow.
- The noble Wall surrounded on both sides
- By only blank totality.
- The Yellow River’s epic stretch
- Locked into place, its torrents stilled.
- The mountains, dancing silver snakes,
- The highlands, charging elephants,
- Triumphantly competing with the heavens’ lofty height.
- And come a clear day,
- The land adorned with sunlight, draped in white,
- Seduces all who bear its sight.
- That wondrous view, so dear and tender all at once,
- Moved countless heroes, bowing from their waists, to pay their due homage.
- Alas, for Zheng of Qin and Wu of Han
- Grasped not the art of poetry,
- While Zong of Tang and Zu of Song
- Had not virile minds nor forms.
- A generation’s pride and joy,
- The fierce and mighty Genghis Khan,
- Knew only how to shoot the condors up above the steppes.
- They are but history,
- For those who seek a greater figure yet
- Must look toward this age alone.
The first half praises the grandeur and beauty of northern China in the winter. The more politically significant part is the second half, where Mao lists important Chinese emperors, including Qin Shihuang,[46] the first emperor of a united China; Emperor Wu of Han,[47] the Han emperor who defeated the Huns; Emperor Taizong of Tang,[48] the second emperor of the Tang dynasty; Emperor Taizu of Song,[49] the first emperor of the Song dynasty; and Genghis Khan,[50] whom the Chinese celebrate as the founder of the Yuan dynasty despite him never personally conquering China. After describing the shortcomings of these past leaders, Mao hints at his aspiration to surpass them, alluding to a famous passage from Romance of the Three Kingdoms where Cao Cao says to Liu Bei that “the only heroes in the world are you and I.”
The PLA Captures Nanjing (1949.04)[51]
In late April 1949, the communist PLA (People's Liberation Army) crossed Yangtze River and captured the capital of KMT government: Nanjing. Mao wrote this poem to celebrate this historical event.
Line 1: Over Zhong Mountain swept a storm, headlong,
Zhong Mountain is a hill at the suburb of Nanjing.
Line 2: Great River [52] means Yangtze River
Line 3-4: The city, a tiger crouching, a dragon curling, outshining its ancient glory;
Nanjing,[53] a great city, had been the capital of six dynasties in Chinese history. Strategiests said this city was like a "crouching tiger", and a "curling dragon". Also can be in reference to Zhuge Liang's nickname of the crouching dragon.
Line 7: And not ape Xiang Yu the conqueror seeking idle fame.
Xiang Yu[54] is the hero who led the uprising that toppled the Qin Dynasty. After winning the war against the Qin dynasty, Xiang Yu fought against Liu Bang for the control of China. Xiang Xu was defeated and killed. His tragic story was immortalized in the famous Beijing Opera The Hegemon-King Bids His Concubine Farewell.
References
Citations
- Short (2001), p. 630.
- 沁园春·长沙
- The original poem written by Mao
- 长沙
- 沁园春
- 菩萨蛮·黄鹤楼
- 西江月·井冈山
- 井冈山
- 黄洋界
- 清平乐·蒋桂战争
- 汀江
- 龙岩
- 上杭
- 采桑子·重阳
- 重阳
- 如梦令·元旦
- 宁化
- 清流
- 归化
- 武夷山
- 减字木兰花·广昌路上
- 广昌
- 赣江
- 吉安
- 蝶恋花·从汀州向长沙
- 汀州
- 黄公略
- 渔家傲·反第一次大“围剿”
- 张辉瓒
- 不周山
- 共工
- 渔家傲·反第二次大“围剿”
- 菩萨蛮·大柏地
- 清平乐·会昌
- 忆秦娥·娄山关
- 十六字令三首
- 三首
- Barnstone, Willis (1972). The Poems of Mao Tse-tung. Bantam. p. 164.
- 七律·长征
- 长征
- 七律
- 念奴娇·昆仑
- 昆仑
- 清平乐·六盘山
- Tian Min, June 2020
- 秦皇
- 汉武
- 唐宗
- 宋祖
- 成吉思汗
- 七律·人民解放军占领南京
- 大江
- 南京
- 霸王（项羽）
- 浣溪沙·和柳亚子先生
- Poems of Mao Zedong (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008).
- 赤县
- 于阗
Sources and further reading
- Short, Philip (2001). Mao: A Life. Owl Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-6638-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Ingalls, Jeremy (2013). Dragon in Ambush: The Art of War in the Poems of Mao Zedong. compiled and edited by Allen Wittenborn. Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-7782-2.