BOOKMARK

Song of Listening to An Fanshan Blow the Pipe

By Li Qi Tang Dynasty

English Poetic Translation

Bamboo hewn from southern peaks shapes the reed pipe's cry,
An ancient song brought forth from Qiuci's western sky.
Transplanted to the Central Plains, its measures shift and soar,
A herdsman from Liangzhou plays it at my tavern door.
Beside us, passing neighbors catch their breath in sudden pain;
Far wanderers dreaming of their homes weep falling drops like rain.
The vulgar crowd may catch the tune, but miss the subtle art,
As rushing winds of sound sweep through and pillage every heart.
Now withered mulberry and pine make cold and soughing sighs,
Now nine young phoenixes break forth in sweet, disordered cries.
Dragons roar and tigers howl, unleashed in frantic grace,
And hundred springs and myriad winds possess the echoing space.
Then suddenly the rhythm shifts to Yuyang's beat of dread,
Where yellow clouds of desolation darken overhead.
Yet turning once again, it brings the willow-springs to light,
Where Shanglin's radiant blossoms burst upon the dazzled sight.
Tonight within the festive hall, as dying year burns low,
A single cup of golden wine, a song to stem the woe.

Classical Chinese & Pinyin

南山截竹爲觱篥，此樂本自龜茲出。
流傳漢地曲轉奇，涼州胡人爲我吹。
傍鄰聞者多歎息，遠客思鄉皆淚垂。
世人解聽不解賞，長飆風中自來往。
枯桑老柏寒颼飀，九雛鳴鳳亂啾啾。
龍吟虎嘯一時發，萬籟百泉相與秋。
忽然更作漁陽摻，黃雲蕭條白日暗。
變調如聞楊柳春，上林繁花照眼新。
歲夜高堂列明燭，美酒一杯聲一曲。

nán shān jié zhú wéi bì lì,
cǐ yuè běn zì qiū cí chū.
liú chuán hàn dì qǔ zhuǎn qí,
liáng zhōu hú rén wéi wǒ chuī.
bàng lín wén zhě duō tàn xī,
yuǎn kè sī xiāng jiē lèi chuí.
shì rén jiě tīng bù jiě shǎng,
cháng biāo fēng zhōng zì lái wǎng.
kū sāng lǎo bǎi hán sōu liú,
jiǔ chú míng fèng luàn jiū jiū.
long yín hǔ xiào yī shí fā,
wàn lài bǎi quán xiāng yǔ qiū.
hū rán gèng zuò yú yáng cān,
huáng yún xiāo tiáo bái rì àn.
biàn diào rú wén yáng liǔ chūn,
shàng lín fán huā zhào yǎn xīn.
suì yè gāo táng liè míng zhú,
měi jiǔ yī bēi shēng yī qū.

Philological Direct Translation

Southern mountain cuts bamboo to make bili pipe,
this music originally from Qiuci comes out.
Spread and transmitted to Han lands, tunes turn wondrous,
Liangzhou barbarian man for me blows it.
Near-neighbor listeners mostly sigh with grief,
distant travelers thinking of home all let tears drop.
Worldly people understand listening but do not understand appreciation,
long gusting winds in the midst on their own come and go.
Withered mulberries and old cypresses cold soughing and whistling,
nine fledgling singing phoenixes disorderly chirping.
Dragon roaring and tiger howling at one time burst forth,
myriad sounds and hundred springs together make autumn.
Suddenly changing to play Yuyang tap-rhythm,
yellow clouds desolate and white sun darkened.
Changed mode like hearing Willows of Spring,
Shanglin lush flowers illuminating eyes fresh.
New Year's Eve high hall displays bright candles,
fine wine one cup, sound one tune.

Scholarly Exegesis & Cultural Commentary

I. Formal Poetic Architecture & Meter

This masterpiece belongs to the genre of ancient-style regulated verse and ballad poetry known as Gushi or song-march poetry. Unlike the strictly constrained regulated verse of the high Tang period, this poem exhibits fluid couplets, variable line lengths ranging from seven characters to expressive shifts in rhythm, and a dynamic tonal modulation that mirrors the shifting moods of the musical performance it describes. The rhyme scheme shifts dynamically across the twenty lines, capturing the improvisational brilliance and sonic range of the Central Asian reed instrument known as the bili.

II. Historical Chronology & Existential Impulse

Written during the flourishing zenith of the Tang Dynasty, the poem reflects the cosmopolitan cultural exchange that characterized the capital and frontier interactions. The influx of musicians, instruments, and melodic modes from Central Asian oasis states such as Qiuci deeply enriched Tang poetic and musical expression. Li Qi, renowned for his robust and sensory capture of frontier music and banquet scenes, utilizes this performance not merely as entertainment, but as an existential medium through which the melancholic dislocation of travelers, the passage of time, and the sublime grandeur of sound are fully articulated within the festive yet nostalgic atmosphere of the Tang court and elite salons.

III. Line-by-Line Exegesis & Allusion Decoding

The poem traces an auditory and emotional journey from the raw physical origins of the instrument to an explosive symphony of natural and martial imagery, concluding in introspective domestic warmth.

Lines 1-2 (Opening Couplet): Line 1 ("Southern mountain cuts bamboo to make bili pipe") and Line 2 ("this music originally from Qiuci comes out") establish the material provenance and geographic roots of the instrument, grounding the exotic sound in tangible organic elements.
Lines 3-4 (First Antithetical Turn): Line 3 ("Spread and transmitted to Han lands, tunes turn wondrous") and Line 4 ("A herdsman from Liangzhou plays it for me") highlight the cultural translation and trans-ethnic artistry that bridges the borderlands and the interior.
Lines 5-6 (Second Antithetical Turn / Climax): Line 5 ("Near-neighbor listeners mostly sigh with grief") and Line 6 ("distant travelers thinking of home all let tears drop") pivot from mere auditory appreciation to deep psychological resonance, evoking acute nostalgia and homesickness.
Closing Lines (Resolving Couplet): The final couplet ("New Year's Eve high hall displays bright candles / fine wine one cup, sound one tune") resolves the cosmic and emotional tempest into a poignant domestic scene of year-end reflection and aesthetic communion.

IV. Cultural Symbolism & Key Metaphors

The poem relies heavily on sonic synesthesia and natural symbolism to convey the supernatural power of music. The bili is not treated as a mere artifact, but as a living conduit of elemental forces. By invoking contrasting natural tokens such as withered mulberries, singing phoenixes, roaring dragons, and desolate yellow clouds, the poet translates abstract acoustic frequencies into tangible physical landscapes. The transition from mournful frontier laments to bright spring blossoms encapsulates the dual capacity of classical Chinese music to wound the exiled soul and simultaneously restore its vitality.

V. Philosophical Core & Global Resonance

At its philosophical core, the poem explores the Daoist notion of wanlai, the myriad hollows and voices of nature responding to the cosmic wind, as famously articulated in Zhuangzi. The musician's breath becomes indistinguishable from the natural forces of autumn gales and spring regeneration. Li Qi captures the universal human vulnerability to art—how a transient melody can collapse the boundaries between foreign and native, past and present, solitary grief and shared human endurance. This transcendent power secures the poem's enduring status as one of the supreme achievements of Tang musical ekphrasis.