Category: Chinese Reading

九月九日，指农历九月初九重阳节。中国民间很重视这个节日，在这一天有登高、头上插茱萸、饮菊花酒等习俗，传说能以此避灾。忆，就是想念。山东，指华山以东，就是现在的山西，诗人王维的家乡就在这一带。Mountain-climbing Day refers to the Double Ninth Festival, which is on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. It is a festival highly valued by Chinese folks. Chinese people usually climb mountains, carry dogwood on their heads, and drink chrysanthemum wine on the day. Legend has it that by doing these people can avoid disasters. “忆(yì)” means to recall. “山东(shān dōng)” means the place to the east of Mount Hua, which actually refers to the Shangxi Province nowadays, the hometown of the poet Wang Wei.

In Summer Solstice, due to strong heat absorption by ground and air convection, thunder showers that come and go quickly occur a lot between noon and dusk. A lot of poet will make poems according to different solars.

This folk song vividly describes the changes in weather from hot summer to cool autumn. The first nine-day begins when the Summer Solstice comes, people cannot leave their fans.一九至二九，扇子不离手；
During the second nine-day period, taking hats off and wearing voile clothes.二九一十八，脱冠着罗衫；
During the third nine-day period, sweat drops when people step out of their houses.三九二十七，出门汗滴滴；
During the fourth nine-day period, getting soaked with sweat.四九三十六，衣衫汗湿透；
The fifth nine-day, weather is as hot as a tiger.五九四十五，树梢轻风舞；
The sixth nine-day, enjoying the cool in temples.六九五十四，乘凉勿太迟；
The seventh nine-day, starting covering double coverlet.七九六十三，夜眠寻被单；
The eighth nine-day, looking for quilts in the middle of the night.八九七十二，当心受风寒；
The ninth nine-day, preparing to put on cotton-padded clothes.九九八十一，家家备棉衣。

The Bencao gangmu 本草纲目 "Guidelines and details of materia medica" is China's most important traditional book on pharmaceuticals. It is 52 juan"scrolls" long and was written by the famous Ming period 明 (1368-1644) herbologist Li Shizhen (1518－1593), courtesy name Li Dongbi 李东壁, stylePinhu shanren 濒湖山人. He came from Qizhou 蕲州 (modern Qichun 蕲春, Hubei), and hailed from a family of physicians. His father Li Yanwen 李言闻, also called Li Yuechi 李月池, was a medical secretary in the Imperial Academy of Medicine (taiyi limu 太医吏目) and had written the books Sizhen faming 四珍发明, Aiyezhuan 艾叶传 and Douzhen zhengzhi 痘疹证治. Li Shizhen himself was an enganged student of his own father but did not have the ambition to achieve a career in the civil service. He nevertheless became a physician at the court of Zhu Yingxian 朱英{火+佥}, the Prince of Chu 楚, and later even administrative assistant in the Imperial Academy of Medicine (taiyi yuanpan 太医院判).

Evaluation 幽静的山里看不见人影，但是却能听见人的说话声，夕阳的光芒透过茂密的树林照射下来，青苔上也就有了一丝阳光。There is no one in the peaceful mountains, only a voice that can be heard. The rays of the setting sun shine through thick woods, sprinkling onto the green moss.

我在好几篇小说中都提到过一座废弃的古园，实际就是地坛。许多年前旅游业还没有开展，园子荒芜冷落得如同一片野地，很少被人记起。In a number of my stories, I’ve referred to an antiquated park: in fact, this is the Temple of Earth Park. Some years ago, before tourism had developed much, it was as desolate and neglected as a wasteland. People seldom gave it a thought。
地坛离我家很近。或者说我家离地坛很近。总之，只好认为这是缘分。The Temple of Earth wasn’t far from my home, or perhaps it’s better to say my home wasn’t far from it. All in all, I felt I was related to it by fate。
地坛在我出生前四百多年就坐落在那儿了，而自从我的祖母年轻时带着我父亲来到北京，就一直住在离它不远的地方——五十多年间搬过几次家，可搬来搬去总是在它周围，而且是越搬离它越近了。我常觉得这中间有着宿命的味道：仿佛这古园就是为了等我，而历尽沧桑在那儿等待了四百多年。It had reposed there for four hundred years before my birth, and ever since, when my grandmother was a young woman, she had taken my father to live in Beijing, my family had lived near it: in more than fifty years, my family had moved several times, but always to a place in its vicinity. Each time, we moved closer to it. I often felt this was something foreordained—as if this old park were waiting especially for me: it seemed it had been waiting for four hundred years—through all the tumultuous changes of those centuries。
它等待我出生，然后又等待我活到最狂妄的年龄上忽地残废了双腿。四百多年里，它剥蚀了古殿檐头浮夸的琉璃，淡褪了门壁上炫耀的朱红，坍圮了一段段高墙又散落了玉砌雕栏，祭坛四周的老柏树愈见苍幽，到处的野草荒藤也都茂盛得自在坦荡。It had waited for me to be born, and then it had waited for me to be suddenly crippled in both legs during my wildly ambitious youth. In those four hundred years, it had been denuded of the colored glazes on the eaves of its old temple, the glorious vermilion of its gates and walls had faded, the high walls had collapsed, pieces of jade inlaid into the pillars had loosened and scattered, yet old dark green cypress trees surrounding the altar had become more and more serene, and everywhere, weeds and vines flourished with abandon。

Dragon Boat Festival is coming. Do yo know the origins of the Dragon Boat Festival, the tradition of Dragon Boat Festival and the poem of Dragon Boat Festival?