The full text of "Afang Palace Fu"

"Afang Palace Fu" is a fu-style prose written by Du Mu, a litterateur in the Tang Dynasty, which uses the past to satirize the present. The full text is as follows:

Ode to Afang Palace

Tang Dynasty·Du Mu

After the completion of the six kings, the four seas are one, the Shu Mountain is Wu, and Afang comes out. It was covered for more than three hundred miles and isolated from the sky. Lishan is built in the north and turns west, going straight to Xianyang. The two rivers flowed into the palace wall. Five steps to the first floor, ten steps to the pavilion; the waist of the corridor is unobtrusive, and the eaves and teeth are high; everyone is holding on to the terrain and fighting each other. Panpan Yan, Huan Yan Yan, honeycomb water vortex, I don't know how many tens of millions of them have fallen. The long bridge is lying on the waves, what's the point? If you return to the Tao and walk in the sky, what will happen if you don’t fly? I am confused up and down, and I don’t know the west or the east. The singing stage is warm and the spring light is warm; the dance hall is cold and the wind and rain are miserable. Within a day, from one palace to another, the weather is not uniform.

Concubines, concubines, princes and grandsons resigned from the lower hall and came to Qin in their chariots. Chaoge Yexian is from Qin Palace. The stars are shining brightly, and the makeup mirrors are opened; the green clouds are disturbing, and the servant girls are combing at dawn; the Wei River is swollen and greasy, and the fat and water are discarded; the smoke is slanting and the fog is horizontal, and peppers and orchids are burning. The thunder suddenly startled me, and I heard the palace carriage passing by; I heard the winding of the wind from afar, but I didn't know where it was. Every muscle and every face is extremely radiant, with a distant vision and a happy look. There are those who are missing, thirty-six years. The collections of Yan and Zhao, the management of Han and Wei, and the elites of Qi and Chu, for several generations, plundered their people, leaning against the mountains. Once you can't have it, you will lose it. Dings, clangs, jade, gold nuggets, beads and gravels are thrown away in the winding winds, but the people of Qin regard them with no pity.

Sigh! The heart of one person is the heart of thousands of people. Qin's love is extravagant, and people also miss his family. How can you take all the baht and use it like sand? There are more pillars supporting the building than there are farmers in Nanmu; there are more rafters erecting beams than there are workers on the machine; there are more phosphorus on nail heads than there are grains of millet in Yu; there are more jagged joints in tiles than there are silk threads all over the body; there are more straight rails and horizontal sills. , more than the city walls of the Nine Lands; the orchestral music is hoarse, more than the words of the people in the city. Make people in the world dare not speak out but dare to get angry. The heart of a single husband is becoming increasingly arrogant. The garrison soldiers shouted, the letter was lifted up, the Chu people fired their torches, the pitiful scorched earth!

Woohoo! Those who destroy the six kingdoms are the six kingdoms, and they are not Qin; those who belong to Qin are Qin, and they are not the world. Alas! If the six countries love their own people, it will be enough to reject Qin; if Qin loves the people of the six countries again, he will be king for three generations and will be king for ten thousand generations. Who can win and his family will be destroyed? The people of Qin had no time to mourn for themselves, so that future generations would mourn for them; if future generations mourned without taking note of it, they would also cause future generations to mourn for future generations again.

Translation

The six kingdoms were destroyed and the four seas were unified; the mountains of Shu became bare, and the Epang Palace was built. It covers more than three hundred miles from Weinan to Xianyang, with towering palaces that block out the sky and the sun. It was built from the north of Lishan Mountain, turned west, and led to Xianyang. The Wei River and the Fan River flowed into the palace wall. A building is built every five steps, and a pavilion is built every ten steps. The corridors are long and winding, and the protruding eaves poke upward like a bird's beak. Each one follows the terrain, the four directions converge to the core, and compete with each other for supremacy. The pavilions are intertwined, twisting and turning, like dense honeycombs, like swirling water vortices, standing high, and there are tens of millions of them. The long bridge lies across the water waves, there are no clouds in the sky, where is the blue dragon flying? The road flew across the sky again. Why did a rainbow appear if it wasn't just clearing up after the rain? The houses are suddenly high and low, so deep and confusing that people can't distinguish things. The singing stage is full of warmth due to the loud singing, like the harmony of spring; the dance hall is full of chill due to the fluttering dance sleeves, like the desolation of wind and rain. Within a day and within a palace, the climate is different.

The concubines, concubines, princes, emperors and grandsons of the Six Kingdoms left their palaces and came to Qin in chariots. They sang in the morning and played music in the evening and became the palace servants of Qin. The bright stars are twinkling, which is when the palace concubines open the dressing mirror; the dark blue clouds are disturbing, which is when the palace concubines are combing their hair buns with morning makeup; the Weishui River rises with a layer of greasy, which is when the palace concubines abandon it. The rouge water was gone; the mist rose slantingly, and the clouds and mist spread across the sky. It was the palace ladies who lit peppers and orchid to incense; the thunder suddenly sounded, which was the palace carriage passing by; the rumble of the carriage became farther and farther away, Without a trace, no one knows where it went. Every piece of their skin and every appearance is extremely beautiful and charming. The concubines stood for a long time, visiting from a distance, looking forward to the emperor's arrival. Some maids could not see the emperor for thirty-six years. The gold and jade treasures collected by Yan, Zhao, Han and Wei, and the treasures selected by Qi and Chu, were plundered by princes from their people for generations, and they were piled up like mountains. Once the country is destroyed and the family is destroyed, these can no longer be possessed and will be transported to Afang Palace. The precious tripod was treated as an iron pot, the jade was treated as a stubborn stone, the gold was treated as a clod of earth, and the pearls were treated as gravel. They were discarded everywhere. When the people of Qin saw these, they did not feel pity.

Well, one person’s wish is also the wish of millions of people. Emperor Qin liked prosperity and luxury, and the people also cared about their own homes. Why is it that when plundering treasures, not even a single baht is plundered, but the treasures are consumed like dirt? As a result, there are more pillars supporting the beams than there are farmers in the fields; there are more rafters erected on the beams than there are women workers on the looms; there are more dazzling nail heads on the beams than there are grains of millet in the granary; there are more corrugated corrugations than there are in the granary. One, there are more silk strands than the whole body; there are more straight or horizontal railings than the city walls of Kyushu; the sound of the orchestra is noisy, more than the words of the citizens. So that the people of the world dare not speak with their mouths, but dare to be angry in their hearts. However, the thoughts of Qin Shihuang, who had lost the hearts of the people, became more proud and stubborn day by day. As a result, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, who were guarding the border, raised their arms and Liu Bang captured Hangu in one fell swoop. The Chu soldiers were in a fire, but Epang Palace was reduced to scorched earth.

Alas! It was the Six Kingdoms themselves that destroyed the Six Kingdoms, not Qin. The one who destroyed the Qin Dynasty was the Qin Dynasty itself, not the people of the world.

What a shame! If the six countries each cherish their own people, they can completely rely on the people to resist Qin. If the Qin Dynasty cherishes the people of the Six Kingdoms, then the throne can be passed down to three generations and can be passed down to all generations as emperor. Who can destroy it? The people of Qin had no time to mourn themselves, and future generations mourned for them; if future generations mourned him but did not learn from him as an example, it would only cause future generations to mourn this descendant again.

Notes

(1) A (ē) Fang (páng) Palace: The palace built by Qin Shihuang, the site is located in A Fang Village, Xi'an City today.

(2) After the Six Kings: The six kingdoms were destroyed. The kings of the six kingdoms of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei refer to the Six Kingdoms. Bi, finished, refers to being destroyed by Qin.

(3) One: Unification.

(4) Shushan Wu, Afang came out: The mountains in Sichuan were bare, and Afang Palace appeared. Wu, the mountain is high and flat. It is described here that all the trees on the mountain have been cut down. To come out, to appear, means to be built. Shu, Sichuan.

(5) Covering more than three hundred miles: (from Weinan to Xianyang) covering more than three hundred miles (a mile is a unit of area, not a unit of length. In ancient times, five households were one neighbor, and five neighbors were one mile). This describes the continuous succession of palaces and pavilions covering an extremely large area. Cover, cover.

(6) Isolate the sky and the sun: Cover the sky and the sun. This describes the grandeur of palaces and pavilions.

(7) Lishan is built from the north and turns west, going straight to Xianyang: (Afang Palace) was built from the north of Lishan, turned west, and led to Xianyang (in ancient Xianyang was northwest of Lishan). Go, trend.

(8) Erchuan Rongrong: Erchuan refers to Weishui River and Fanchuan River. Rong Rong, the river looks broad and flowing.

(9) Corridor Yaoman (màn): The corridor is long and winding. Corridor waist, the corridor connecting tall buildings, is like a person's waist, so it is called so. Man, lingering. Back, twists and turns.

(10) Eaves: The (protruding) eaves (like a bird's beak) stick upward. Eaves teeth, eaves protrude like teeth.

(11) Everyone follows the terrain: Everyone follows the terrain. This is a state in which the pavilions are built facing away from each other according to the height of the terrain.

(12) Intrigue: refers to the uneven and intricate structure of the palace. Hook center refers to the gathering of various buildings towards the central area. Doujiao refers to the confrontation between the corners of the house.

(13) Panpanyan, 囷(qūn)囷yan, honeycomb water vortex: spiraling, buckling, like a honeycomb, like a water vortex. The pavilion is built against the mountain, so it is said to be like a honeycomb or a vortex. Panpanyan, circling. Naughty, flexing, twisting and turning. Yan is equivalent to "ran", which means the appearance of...

(14) I don’t know how many tens of millions they are standing there: I don’t know how many millions they are standing there. chu, describes the towering appearance of a building. The usage of "杳" in "杳不知道的就是也" below is the same. Luo is equivalent to "seat" or "place".

(15) A long bridge lies on the water, but there are no clouds. How can a dragon appear? "The Book of Changes" has the words "Yun follows the dragon", so people think that if there is a dragon, there should be clouds. This is a pretense of questioning, describing the long bridge as resembling a dragon.

(16) Fudao: A wooden passage between pavilions. Because there are passages up and down, it is called the compound road. Ji: The sky is sunny after the rain.

(17) Mingmi: Can’t tell clearly.

(18) East and West: One is "West and East".

(19) The singing stage is warm and springy: It means that people are singing on the stage, and the singing sounds seem to be filled with warmth. As harmonious as spring. Harmony, harmony.

(20) The dance hall has cold sleeves, and the wind and rain are miserable: It means that people are dancing in the hall, and the dancing sleeves are fluttering, which seems to bring cold air, as cold as the wind and rain.

(21) concubine (pín) 媵 (yìng) 山 (qiáng): collectively refers to the concubines of the six kings. Each of them has a rank (the rank of concubines is higher than that of concubines and concubines). A concubine is a dowry maid, and can also be a concubine or concubine. The "princes and grandsons" below refer to the daughters and granddaughters of the six princes.

(22) Bid farewell to the lower hall, and came to Qin in a chariot (niǎn): Bid farewell to the pavilions and palaces (of the Six Kingdoms), and came to Qin in a chariot.

(23) Stars shine brightly, and makeup mirrors are opened: (Light like) stars shine, it is (palace people) who open makeup mirrors. Yingying, bright look. The following four consecutive sentences have the same sentence structure.

(24) Swelling: (a layer of) grease (face-washing "fat water" containing rouge and powder) has swollen.

(25) Chili orchid: two spice plants, burned to smoke clothes.

(26) Listen far away: The sound of the car is heard farther and farther away. The sound of rolling wheels.

(27)杳: So far away that there is no trace.

(28) Every skin and every appearance is extremely beautiful: any part of the skin, any kind of appearance, is extremely charming. Attitude refers to the beauty of posture. Yan, beautiful.

(29) Manli: Long standing. Man means "slow".

(30) Fortunately: In the feudal era, when the emperor went somewhere, it was called "fortunate". Concubines who are favored by the emperor are called "de-luck".

(31) Thirty-six years: Qin Shihuang reigned for thirty-six years.

According to Qin Shihuang's twenty-sixth year (221 BC), he unified China and died in the thirty-seventh year (209 BC). He served as emperor for twelve years. The thirty-sixth year here refers to the number of years he reigned. It describes the Epang Palace as very Da, I haven't seen the emperor's maid for 36 years.

(32) Collection: refers to the collection of gold, jade, treasures and other objects. The "business" below also refers to gold, jade, treasures and other items. "Elite" is an adjective used as a noun, high-quality goods, and also means gold, jade, treasures and other objects.

(33) PIāo: plunder their people: rob them from the people. Plagiarize, rob, plunder. people.

(34) Yidie: accumulation.

(35) Dingdang (chēng) jade, gold nuggets, beads: Think of the tripod as an iron pot, the jade as a stone, the gold as a clod of soil, and the pearls as pebbles. Pan, a shallow pan with a flat bottom.

(36) 馦(lǐ)迤(yǐ): Continuously. Here it means "connected" and "everywhere".

(37) The heart of one person is the heart of thousands of people: heart, mind, will.

(38) Naihe: how, why. 锱(zī) baht(zhū): An ancient name for weight. One 锱 is equal to six baht, and one baht is approximately equal to twenty-fourth of the later one tael. The combination of 锱 and baht is extremely subtle.

(39) Pillars that bear the pillars: pillars that bear the pillars.

(40) Phosphorus (lín) Phosphorus: describes objects with sharp edges and corners. It also refers to the appearance of protruding rocks in the water. This describes the protruding nail head.

(41) Yu (yǔ): open-air barn.

(42) Jiutu: Jiuzhou.

(43) Du Fu: A ruler who has lost his heart and is extremely isolated. This refers to Qin Shihuang.

(44) Arrogant: Arrogant, stubborn.

(45) The garrison soldiers shouted: referring to the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.

(46) Hangu Ju: Liu Bang led his army into Xianyang in 206 BC, overthrew the rule of the Qin Dynasty, and sent troops to guard Hangu Pass. Li, was captured.

(47) A torch from Chu people: refers to Xiang Yu (a descendant of Chu general Xiang Yan) who also entered Xianyang in 206 BC and burned the Qin palace. The fire lasted for three months.

(48) Clan: Make...exterminate the clan.

(49) Shi: If.

(50) Pass: Pass, here refers to the throne being passed down in order. Eternity: "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang" records: After Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he "issued an edict saying: "I am the first emperor, and future generations will be counted, the second, the third and the ten thousand generations, and it will be passed down endlessly. "However, the Qin Dynasty only lasted for two generations before dying.

(51) Too late: too late.

(52) Ai: Lament.

Introduction to the work

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"A Fang Palace Ode" is a prose style written by Du Mu, a litterateur in the Tang Dynasty, who uses the past to satirize the present. By describing the construction and destruction of Afang Palace, Du Mu vividly summarizes the arrogance of the rulers of the Qin Dynasty. The historical experience of extravagant subjugation sent a warning to the rulers of the Tang Dynasty, showing the feelings of an upright literati in the feudal era who cared about the country and the people, and helped the world. The whole text uses imagination, metaphor, exaggeration and other techniques as well as description, layout and discussion. The style, parallel sentences are loose and well-proportioned.

Appreciation of Works

"A Fang Palace Fu" was selected into the seventh volume of "Guanwen Guanzhi". In addition to its shocking ideological power, the full text , also has high artistic value. From the content structure, this poem can be divided into four paragraphs.

The first paragraph describes the majesty of Epang Palace.

Started with four three-character sentences, the syllables are compact and the momentum is extraordinary, achieving the effect of taking the lead. These 12 characters not only describe the heroic spirit of Qin Shihuang to dominate the world, but also describe the extraordinary construction of Afang Palace. , the language is so concise that it cannot be deleted, and the writing is very powerful. Next, from the panoramic view to the ontological structure, the majesty of Epang Palace is described as "overwhelming for more than 300 miles, isolating the sky", outlining the vast area of ??Epang Palace. The majestic momentum of the lofty clouds blocking out the sun gives people an overall impression. The four sentences "Lishan is built in the north and turns to the west" describe that Afang Palace was built according to the mountain and the water flow, which still highlights its use of nature and its ingenuity. The following is a natural transition from describing the "flowing into the palace wall" of Weishui River and Fanchuan River to describing the architectural characteristics of Epang Palace, and then using exaggeration and foil techniques to describe the warmth and warmth of singing and dancing, describing Epang Palace "in one day, The strange phenomenon of "different climates within one palace" highlights its grandeur and breadth.

The second paragraph describes the beauties and treasures in Afang Palace, revealing the luxurious life of the rulers of the Qin Dynasty. To set the stage for the discussion below.

The origin of "concubines" is written first, explaining that it is the result of "the six kings are all one in the world", which echoes the beginning of the chapter. " and other six groups of parallel sentences describe the miserable life of the palace people dressing up and "looking farsighted and lucky". The mirror is like a star, the servant girl is like a green cloud, "abandoned fat" rises in the Wei River, and burning pepper orchid turns into smoke. These vivid descriptions not only show the tragic fate of the palace maids, but also reveal the arrogance and extravagance of Qin Shihuang's life. The following "The Collection of Yanzhao" switches from describing the bullying of people to the trampling of objects collected in the Six Kingdoms. The jade and golden tripods were piled up like clods of earth and iron pots, "the people of Qin looked at them with no pity"

The third paragraph changes from description to discussion, which shows that this poem was written. The original intention of the article.

First of all, he sighs with "嗟HU", compares the mentality of people, points out that "Qin's love is extravagant, and people also miss his family", and then asks: "How can you use all the baht and use it like sand?" ?" Then, he used six groups of metaphorical sentences of "making... more than..." to fully expose the serious disasters that the Qin Dynasty's extravagance brought to the people. After a lot of foreshadowing, the author suddenly changed his mind and allowed the "people of the world" who "dare not speak out but dare to get angry" to compete with the "increasingly arrogant" rulers. As a result, Epang Palace became a scorched earth.

The fourth paragraph summarizes the historical lessons of the demise of the Six Kingdoms and Qin, and issues a warning to the current rulers.

"Hey! The heart of one person is the heart of thousands of people." This means that "people share the same heart", but what follows is that "Qin's love is extravagant, and people also miss his family." "How can you use all your money like sand?" But he made a powerful attack on the remnants of the Qin rulers who enriched themselves. The following sentences are particularly wonderful: "There are more pillars than there are farmers in Nanmu; there are more rafters in erecting beams than there are workers on the machine; there are more phosphorus on nail heads than there are grains of millet in Yu; there are more jagged seams in tiles than there are in the whole body. There are more straight railings and horizontal sills than there are in the city walls of Jiutu; there are more mute music than the words of the people in the city, which makes the people in the world dare not speak but dare to be angry. The garrison soldiers are increasingly arrogant. "Hangu lifts, Chu people use torches, pitiful scorched earth!" This is closely related to the following sentences of "嗟HU". "Qin's love is extravagant, and people also miss his family." In the two sentences, "Qin" and "people" are mentioned together. Then he summed up the serious disasters that Qin's extravagance brought to the people with the indignant words "how to take all the baht and use it like sand". Then use the word "to make" to lead it, and lay out a series of criminal evidence. There are countless evidences of the Qin rulers' crimes of exploiting and oppressing the people. The characteristic of literary creation is that the general is expressed through individuals, so there is no need to list evidence from all aspects in a work. That is to say, starting from the writing of Afang Gong, the first half of the narrative is logically deduced. A series of sentences composed of accurate metaphors vividly express the two aspects of happiness and suffering between "Qin" and "people", exploiters and exploited people, and their mutual relationship. Sentences gushed out and advanced layer by layer, to the point where "people in the world dare not speak out but dare to be angry", fully revealing the situation that the volcano is about to erupt. Then he used "the heart of a single man and became increasingly arrogant" to force him from the opposite side, forcing a situation where "the garrison soldiers shouted and the letter was lifted". The raging fire of the peasant uprising finally buried the ruler. And the Afang Palace, where the rulers enjoyed themselves, was reduced to ashes.

Next, he refused to tell the truth directly, but revealed the reasons for the demise of the Six Kingdoms and Qin with infinite emotion: "Wow! The one who destroyed the Six Kingdoms is the Six Kingdoms, not Qin; the one who belongs to Qin is Qin. , not the world. Sigh! If you make the six countries love their own people, it will be enough to reject Qin; if you make Qin love the people of the six countries again, you can be the king for three generations. Who will win and the family will be destroyed? The reason for the death of the country and Qin also pointed out that if everyone could "love his own people", they would not be destroyed. Only then did he turn his attention to "descendants" - mainly the rulers at that time: "The people of Qin had no time to mourn for themselves, and the descendants mourned them; the descendants grieved and ignored them, which also caused the descendants to mourn for the descendants again. "At this point in the writing, the author has successfully expressed his creative intention with passionate pen and ink, and the conclusion is even more characteristic of saying everything.

This poem uses typical artistic techniques to express the grandeur of the palace architecture, the beauty of the harem, and the preciousness and luxury of the treasures in a short space of time in a clear-cut and concrete manner. From this, we can conclude that the reason why Qin Shihuang could not rule for a long time was because the mob took advantage of the situation and did not show kindness, which provided profound lessons and warnings to the supreme ruler at that time.

Creative background

"A Fang Palace Fu" was written in 825 AD (the first year of Baoli reign of Emperor Jingzong of the Tang Dynasty), when Du Mu was twenty-three years old. Du Mu lived in an era characterized by political corruption and extremely sharp class conflicts. He hoped that the rulers at that time would work hard to govern, enrich the people and strengthen the army, but the fact was exactly the opposite of his wishes. Li Heng, Emperor Muzong of the Tang Dynasty, died because of his indulgence in sex. Li Zhan, Emperor Jingzong of the Tang Dynasty who succeeded him, was even more dissolute. He "played to an excessive extent and flirted with small groups." He also said, "He is good at managing the palace, but he wants to run other palaces, and the system is very extensive." He also ordered Lu Zhen, a member of the Du branch, to "repair the Dongdu Palace and the Daozhong Palace" in preparation for his travels (Volume 243 of "Tongjian"). Du Mu was angry and sad about all this. He clearly stated in "Qiu Zhiji Wen Qi": "Bao Li built a large palace, spread his voice, and pretended to write "Efang Palace Fu"." It can be seen that the critical edge of "Efang Palace Fu" is not only directed at Qin Shihuang, Empress Chen, and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and other subjugated kings mainly pointed to the supreme ruler at that time.

About the author

Du Mu (803-852), courtesy name Muzhi, also known as Fanchuan Jushi, Han nationality, was born in Jingzhao Wannian (now Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), and is the grandson of Du You. An outstanding poet and essayist in the Tang Dynasty, he is the author of "Collected Works of Fan Chuan". His poems are famous for their seven-character quatrains, and he is good at chanting history and expressing feelings.

Du Mu is upright, informal, and disdainful of flattery. He prides himself on his talents as a manager and is famous for his poetry and writing. "A Fang Gong Fu" is the most famous of his works. His poems are bright and meaningful, and his quatrain poems are especially praised. He is known as Xiao Du in the world. He is as famous as Li Shangyin and is collectively known as "Little Li Du". His representative works include "Po Qinhuai", "Jiang Nanchun", "Red Cliff", "Ti Wujiang Pavilion", etc., which are very popular. When he was young, he was fond of reading military books, and he once annotated thirteen chapters of "The Art of War" written by Cao Cao. He also wrote essays on contemporary military affairs such as "Sin Yan", "On War", "Shou Lun", and "Original Sixteenth Guards". In the third year of Huichang (843), Zhaoyi's army was in chaos. He wrote to Li Deyu about the use of troops, which was adopted by Deyu. He is the author of "Collected Works of Fan Chuan". In 1978, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House published "Annotations to the Collected Poems of Fan Chuan" and "Collected Works of Fan Chuan".