Departing Baidi City at Dawn
Tang dynasty・Li Bai
Classical Chinese-style Ballad
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While the apes on both banks cry on and on, the light boat has already passed ten thousand ranges.
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- 无事小狗仙
- 2026-10-24 13:25
- 6 reads
At dawn I leave Baidi amid colored clouds; a thousand li to Jiangling, and I return in a day.
Before the cries of apes on either bank have ceased, my light boat has passed ten thousand ranges of mountains.
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Translation
At dawn I leave Baidi City, lit by colored clouds; Jiangling, a thousand li away, seems reachable in a single day. Before the apes’ cries on either bank have ceased, the light, swift boat has already passed mountain after mountain.
Annotations
朝: early morning. 白帝城: White Emperor City, on elevated ground around present-day Fengjie, Chongqing. 江陵: the area around present-day Jingzhou, Hubei. 还: to return. 千里、一日: a thousand li and a single day; the contrasts between distance and proximity, long and short duration, emphasize the speed of traveling downstream and should not be treated as precise mileage figures.
啼不尽: the gibbons' cries continue without end. 轻舟: a light, swift boat, also conveying the traveler's buoyant mood. “啼不尽” has variant readings including “啼不住,” likewise meaning that the cries do not cease. This page follows the commonly used text.
Introduction
Reading guide: Following an early-morning journey eastward downriver, the poem compresses a lofty city amid colored clouds, the cries of apes along both banks, and continuous mountain ranges into four lines. Moving with the light boat, readers feel the scenery approaching and swiftly receding, creating a bright, exuberant rhythm of travel.
Commentary
The opening places Baidi City among colored clouds, conveying both its elevation and the radiance of departure. The second line sets “千里” (“a thousand li”) against “一日” (“one day”), creating a strong tension between distance and time.
The last two lines convey the boat's speed through gibbons whose cries have not ended and mountain range after mountain range already passed. The single character “已” (already) links the sound still in the ears with the boat already far away, making the buoyant mood and swift passage mirror each other.
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Gorge Clouds Unfurl Their Sleeves
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A Light Boat Leaves the Gorge
After twenty-six years hauling boats by towrope, Shen Niang finally pays her fare and takes a seat in the cabin, yet barely has the boat left shore when she instinctively steps toward the bank. Her daughter Ye Zhi arranges a soft quilt beneath her, hoping they will reach Jiangling before sunset and secure a better assignment for the season at the dye works. Along the way, the boatman loads another shipment of wine, the boat scrapes against a sand spit, and a long towrope is once again thrown at Shen Niang’s feet, as though she had never bought that ticket.
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