Ji Chengtian Temple Night Tour Ji Chengtian Temple Night Tour Author Profile

About the Author:

Su Shi (1037-1101) was a literary scholar of the Song Dynasty. The word Zizhan, the word and Zhong, the number of Dongpo layman. A native of Meishan, Meizhou (now Sichuan).

Jiayu Jinshi. He once wrote a book to strongly talk about the disadvantages of Wang Anshi's new law, and later went to the imperial prison for writing poems satirizing the new law and belittled Huangzhou. Song Zhezong was a bachelor of Hanlin at the time, and he was known in Hangzhou and Yingzhou, and the official was still in the Ministry of Rites.

Later, he degraded Huizhou and Danzhou. More preferential policies. Pawn Wenzhong. Knowledgeable, like to reward the backward. Together with his father Su Xun and younger brother Su Zhe, they are collectively called "Three Sus". His writing is unbridled and unbridled, and he is one of the "Eight Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties".

His poems have a wide range of themes, are fresh and vigorous, make good use of exaggerated metaphors, and have a unique style, and are called "Su Huang" together with Huang Tingjian. The word is open and open, and it is called "Su Xin" with Xin Qiji. and calligraphy and painting. There are "Dongpo Seven Episodes", "Dongpo Yi Biography", "Dongpo Yuefu" and so on.

"Night Tour of Ji Chengtian Temple".

Author] Su Shi [Dynasty] Song.

On the night of October 12 in the sixth year of Yuanfeng, he undressed and fell asleep, entered the house by moonlight, and set off happily. Those who have nothing to do with pleasure go to Chengtian Temple to find Zhang Huaimin. Huaimin also did not sleep, walking with each other in the atrium.

Under the court, such as the stagnant water is empty, the algae and wattles in the water are crossed, and the shadow of the bamboo and cypress is also covered. Why is there no moon in the night? Where is there no bamboo cypress?

But there are few idlers like the ears of the two of us.

Translation: On the night of the 12th day of the 10th month of the 6th year of Yuanfeng (or the night of the 12th day of October in 1083 A.D.), when I took off my clothes and was about to go to bed, I happened to see the moonlight shining on the door, and I got up happily and went out for a walk. Thinking of the people who didn't play with me, (I) went to Chengtian Temple to look for Zhang Huaimin.

Huaimin didn't sleep, so we walked in the courtyard together. The moonlight shines on the garden as clear and transparent as clear water, and the algae and aquatic plants in the water are criss-crossed, and it turns out to be the shadows of bamboo and cypress trees. What night is there no moonlight?

Also, where is there no bamboo or cypress? It's just that there's a lack of idle people like the two of us.

"Ji Chengtian Temple Night Tour" [1] is a prose written by the famous literary scholar Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty (Zizhan, also known as Hezhong, called "Dongpo Jushi"), selected from the first volume of "Dongpo Zhilin" (Zhonghua Book Company, 1981 edition), written in the sixth year of Yuanfeng (1083) of Song Shenzong, at that time, the author was demoted to his post because of the "Wutai Poetry Case". This article gives a wonderful description of the moonlit night scene, and truly records a fragment of the author's life at that time.

Under the court, such as the stagnant water is empty, the algae and wattles in the water are crossed, and the shadow of the bamboo and cypress is also covered.

When walking in the atrium", the eyes were attracted by the moonlight in the courtyard, causing an illusion: "stagnant water and empty light", so clear that you can see all kinds of aquatic plants crisscrossed diagonally. How can there be aquatic plants such as algae and wattles in the yard?

When I looked up, I saw bamboo and cypress, and at the same time I saw the bright moon in the blue sky, and then I woke up: it turned out that it was not "algae and wattle", but the shadow of "bamboo and cypress" illuminated by the moonlight! The metaphor of "moonlight is like water" is commonly used, but the magic of its use varies from person to person.

It cannot be said that the author did not use this metaphor, but his usage is very different from that of ordinary people, and the artistic effect produced is also very different.

The author cherishes ink like gold, and only uses eighteen words to create a quiet and charming night scene with clear moonlight, mottled bamboo shadows, and seclusion and charm. The reader can use his imagination: the moonlight is clear, sprinkled in the courtyard, the clear white expanse is like a pool of stagnant water, and even better, there are aquatic plants floating and wandering in the "water", so it is like a fairyland.

The subtlety of the author lies in the fact that the shadows of bamboo, cypress and moonlight are used to contrast, compare, and metaphorize each other, and the technique is exquisite, novel, and just like the atmosphere to render the beauty and solemnity of the scenery.