Li Bai's "Lonely Sails Come to the Side of the Sun" and Du Fu's "Door Berth East Wu Wanli Ship", almost everyone can recite it, but do you know the allusions behind these two poems?
The Gate of Heaven interrupted the opening of the Chu River, and the blue water flowed east to this return.
The green mountains on both sides of the strait are facing each other, and the lone sail is coming from the side of the sun.
--Li Bai, "Looking at Tianmen Mountain"
Translation: The Yangtze River is like a giant axe splitting the peak of Tianmen, and the turquoise river flows east to this whirlpool. The beautiful scenery of the confrontation between the green mountains on both sides of the strait is difficult to distinguish, and it is difficult to meet a lonely boat from the sky.
This poem "Wangtianmen Mountain" was first written in 725, when he first went out of Bashu, went to the country with a sword, and resigned his relatives to travel far away during this period. This poem describes the majesty and magnificence of Tianmen Mountain, and is the embodiment of Li Bai's free and unrestrained spiritual outlook. This poem has been selected for middle school Chinese textbooks, and we often think of this poem as a scene poem, often ignoring the allusion behind the poem "Lonely Sails Come in the Sun".
"Lone sail a piece of the sun" and "suddenly return to the boat dream of the day side" in the "sun side" in the "sun side" is used in The allusion of Yi Yin. "Dream Day by Boat" is about Yi Yin, a major minister of the Shang Dynasty, who dreamed of passing by the sun and moon by a boat before he was reused by the Shang king. Li Bai, who had just come out of Bashu, took this opportunity to express his unlimited vision for his political future by "dreaming of The Japanese Side". However, the "Clear Dream of The Sun" of his career was ruthlessly cut off like "Heaven's Gate interrupting the Chu River".
Two yellow orioles singing green willows, a row of egrets on the blue sky.
The window contains the West Ridge Thousand Autumn Snow, and the door is docked east Wu Wanli Ship.
- Du Fu's "Absolute Sentence"
Translation: Two yellow orioles sing softly among the emerald willow trees, and a neat group of egrets rushes straight to the blue sky. As I sat in front of the window, I could see the year-round snow piled up on the West Ridge, and the ships moored in front of the door from Dongwu, thousands of miles away.
In the first year of Baoying (762), Chengdu Yin and Jiannan Xichuan Jiedu made Yan Wu enter the dynasty, and unrest broke out in Shuzhong, and Du Fu once avoided Zizhou. In the second year of Guangde (764), Yan Wu again left the town of Chengdu, and Du Fu learned of this news and immediately returned to Chengdu Caotang. Du Fu's "Absolute Sentence" was composed during this period, and like Li Bai's "Wangtianmen Mountain", this poem is also considered to be a simple scenery poem. "Two yellow orioles singing green willows, a row of egrets on the blue sky", through "yellow", "green", "white", "green" to carry out the contrast Dafa, outline the bright and colorful spring. The window contains xiling qianqiu snow, the door berthed East Wu Wanli boat", the frozen snow of "qianqiu snow" and the spring river plumbing of "Wanli Boat", on the basis of the first two sentences of "contrasting colors", it presents us with the warmth and cold of the tone.
The Qing Dynasty scholar Pu Qilong, in his "Reading Du Xin Xie", believed that "the window contains the Thousand Autumn Snow of Xiling" refers to the fact that Tubo in the west launched attacks on Sichuan from time to time, but this statement was not widely adopted. This statement is not unfounded, in December of the first year of Guangde (763), the three prefectures of Song, Wei, and Bao were trapped by Tubo, but Gao Shi was unable to return to heaven. In the second year of Guangde (764), Yan Wu replaced Gao Shi and returned to Chengdu. "Menpo Dongwu Wanli Ship" is generally translated as "in front of the gate moored ships from Eastern Wu thousands of miles away". The allusions behind this poem are often overlooked, and the "Wanli" in this poem should refer to the Chengdu Wanli Bridge.
Wanli Bridge is the place where Zhuge Liang sent Fei Yi on his mission to Eastern Wu, and Fei Yi sighed that "the journey of Ten Thousand Miles began with this bridge", which is the origin of the name "Wanli Bridge". In the Tang Dynasty, Wanli Bridge was an important starting point for water and land transportation in Chengdu, such as Cen Shan's "Wanli Bridge" "Cangjiang River East Flow Disease, Sails Like Bird Wings", which can also prove from the side that Wanli Bridge was the hub of water and land transportation at that time. Cen Shan's Wanli Bridge has "sails" (ships), and Du Fu's "Wanli Boat" should refer to the ships on the side of the Wanli Bridge.
"Wanli Bridge West Yicaotang, Hundred Flowers Pond Water is canglang", Du Fu Caotang is located in the west of Wanli Bridge, "Men berth East Wu Wanli Boat", should be translated as "in front of the gate docked Wanli Bridge at any time ready to sail to Dongwu ships". Du Fu admired Zhuge Liang, such as "Zhuge Ge is famous in the universe, and the relics of the emperor are purged of Gao". This "Absolute Sentence" was written after the turmoil in Chengdu was completely calmed, indicating that the elderly Du Fu cherished the rare tranquility and peace of the Caotang at this moment. However, Du Fu did not intend to spend his old age in Chengdu all the time, and the thought that he would "end up in Shuzhong" always seemed unwilling. Another of his poems, "Absolute Sentences", "This spring has passed again, and when the day is the year of return", indicates that during his time in Chengdu, he always constructed his homecoming plan. Du Fu's plan to return to his hometown was du Fu's plan to go to Eastern Wu, and then Dongwu would return to his hometown of Gong County, Henan by water.
To go from Chengdu to Dongwu is to take the waterway from Wanli Bridge, so the "Wanli Wanli" of "Menpo Dongwu Wanli Boat" refers to the Chengdu Wanli Bridge. Du Fu had the experience of Wu Yue roaming in his youth, "Eastern Wu" can be said to be an old dream left over from his youth grand tour, Du Fu went to Eastern Wu to relive the old dream, and then return to the hometown where his dream haunted - Gong County, Henan. However, due to the uncertainty of the war, these plans can only become a dream that has not been solved.
"Menpo Dongwu Wanli Ship", which contains Du Fu's entanglement and inquiry on the way back -- in this era of frequent wars, when will I be able to take a boat sailing to Dongwu by the Wanli Bridge, and then return to my hometown in Henan by the water of Eastern Wu? Combined with Zhuge Liang's allusion to sending Fei Yi to Eastern Wu by the Wanli Bridge, it shows that Du Fu hopes that this long-lost peace will continue forever, even if he later takes the waterway from the Wanli Bridge to Dong wu, and his old friend Yan Wu sends himself, just like Zhuge Liang sent Fei Yi back then.