Remembering Jiangnan · Lovely Jiangnan
Tang dynasty・Bai Juyi
Classical Chinese-style Ballad
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At sunrise river blossoms glow redder than fire, in spring the river turns green as indigo.
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- 无事小狗仙
- 2025-03-14 07:00
- 43 reads
How lovely Jiangnan is; its scenery I knew so well. At sunrise, riverside flowers glow redder than fire; in spring, the river runs green as indigo plants. How could I not remember Jiangnan?
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Translation
How lovely Jiangnan is; its scenery was familiar to me long ago. At sunrise, the flowers beside the river are redder than flames; when spring arrives, the river turns as green as a color dyed with indigo plants. How could one not long for such a Jiangnan?
Annotations
谙 (ān): to know well. 江花: flowers beside the river; some interpretations also connect them with reflections of flowers on the water. 胜: to surpass.
蓝: the indigo plant, used to make dye; “绿如蓝” describes the river's green through the richness of dyed color, rather than simply saying, in modern Chinese terms, that green resembles blue. 忆: to miss or remember.
This is the first of Bai Juyi's three Remembering Jiangnan lyrics; this page includes only this one.
Introduction
Reading guide: Bai Juyi once served in Jiangnan, and this lyric distills spring scenery from familiar memories of life there. It begins with the judgment “江南好” (“Jiangnan is beautiful”), supports it with two vivid scenes, and closes with a rhetorical question expressing longing.
Commentary
Red flowers contrast with green water, while sunrise and spring's arrival provide the moments when their colors change. “胜火” (outshining fire) and “如蓝” (like indigo) heighten Jiangnan's radiant beauty, making the lines vivid and memorable.
“旧曾谙” (long familiar from the past) grounds the praise in memory. The ending repeats Jiangnan, echoing the opening while moving from an appraisal of scenery to human feeling, giving this brief lyric a sense of completeness.
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Lingering Light over Jiangnan
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Return of Spring
Xu Qingchi has painted Jiangnan for seven years without ever crossing the river outside his door. A buyer from the northern city commissions Return of Spring, asking for a red bridge, willow-lined banks, and a homeland that will never fade; yet Yueya, a girl seeking work washing brushes, recognizes a color on the bridge railing that should not be there. She asks only how a boat could pass through water so shallow, and suddenly both the old patterns his father left him and the deposit he has already accepted become problems.
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