DaGuanLou long couplet
Sun Ran-Wong1
Standing in top of the pavilion on the bank of so-called 500 li Dianchi Lake,
Vast water is rushing into my sight.
And feeling the winds in the willows,
Open my coat, and loosen my headcloth,
A joyful feeling pours into my heart while seeing this wonderful landscape.
What a great scenery it is!
Oh, just look around:
Golden Horse Mountain stands on the east like a huge screen,
Jade Cock Mountain like a phoenix opening its wings to hug the lake in the west,
Long Snake Mountain winds its way to the north,
Southern Mountain looks like a crane flying away.
1
Sun Ran-Wong is a famous poet in Qin Dynasty. The DaGuanLou Long Couplet is very famous because it is the longest couplet in China. The couplet was carved on two boards which are hanged on the front door of the DaGuanLou nearby Dianchi Lake.
Why not choose this site for those cosmic beings’ sight-seeing?
Those isles and sandbars look like tiny crabs and winkles far in the lake,
Wind is sweeping softly through willows:
Surrounding duckweeds and reeds seems to cover the land and sky,
Occasionally,
A few small birds with bright green feather fly into this scene;
And sunset glow painted everything in soft red.
Don’t miss these great sceneries around us:
Fragrant rice paddies and thousands acres of sand beaches are all around;
Lotus is blooming in the long summer hot days;
Swinging willows are greening in the early spring winds;
Suddenly,
Numerous memories concerning this land come to my mind,
I raise my cup full of wines into the air,
But where are those heroes in the past?
Oh, just think about:
Han Emperor practiced warship to conquer this area;
Tang Emperor founded an iron pillar to record its great deeds in Yunnan;
Song Emperor waved jade axe to fix the border to Yunnan;
Mongolian Yuan soldiers crossed the Golden Sand River invade Yunnan using air leather bags;
These great deeds were with much ado in the history.
But the mortal things changed too quickly to roll up the curtain in this pavilion.
They appeared like morning clouds and dissolved like evening rains,
Which could not ever last.
Relics of those monuments laid down are in the haze of smokes,
Sunset glow let its last light ray shining on them.
At last, all great legends vanished in the air,
Only these things left:
From remote temples, few sounds from temple bell is floating around,
Under the starry night, twinkling lights in the fishing boats is full of half rivers,
In the autumn sky, two lines of swan geese are flying south,
In a chilly morning, thin frost on the pillow are found.
The DaGuanLou. Two blue boards hanged on the left and right side of the door is the DuanGuanLou Long Couplet.
