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整点诗词 | Su Shi 行香子 · 述怀 Translation

扔个东坡先生的《行香子·述怀》上来。First done 2024, edited May 2025

I originally wanted to translate this poem because of Honkai Star Rail (wow, very good motivation, I know).The popular translation circulating around English fandom back then had "dream of a moonbeam" for the translation of 石中火，梦中身... which was something. Then, reading the poem again recently, I feel like I've gotten something else from this poem. Hmmm. Well. Might as well throw it out here.

《行香子 · 述怀》
Narrating Melancholy to Xingxiangzi by Su Shi

On this clear, windless night, the moon's sheen silvery
Upon pouring the wine, one fills the cup fully
Fame and gain transient, toil in futility
Lamenting that time: Gallops past as a white stallion does
Flickers like a spark from struck stones
Sets the body in a dream-like reverie.

Despite being learned, none empathize wholly
Welcome innocence then, such that life turns merry
When can I leave it all, return to live idly
To keep the company of: An elegant zither
A pot of wine
A bank of clouds, free.

Tried to keep meter and rhyme (lines are 6 syllables to the original 4?) and there are also kind of rhymes, once at the line breaks to match with the 银|分|神|身|亲|真|人|云. I'm not sure if I forced it too much, although I will say they did come rather naturally so I feel like its just... a choice.

There is also no figurative language other than the xiansheng uses in the original. Once again, I'm probably taking this way too much at face value, but I do think that this poem in general is direct even if it is moving, so a pretty direct translation is still a valid one.

I also do feel like taking a poetry workshop class (in English) has significantly rubbed off on me because prof emphasizes form a lot, and I've been playing around with it lately. Of course, it's probably controversial to take it into Chinese poetry translation, but the three character phrases that sound so melodic in the original are so hard to deal with.

叹隙中驹，石中火，梦中身 & 对一张琴，一壶酒，一溪云。

Hence, if I can't achieve the clipped meter that comes with it, I thought that I could take a page out of prof's book and see if playing with the form in terms of showing the parallelism and stuff would help it. Not sure about it, but I think it's something different also compared to other translations. I've seen that other people have couplets for rhymes and stuff, and I do respect it! I just thought I could do different and maybe better... I'm sorry, still thinking about "dream of a moonbeam”.

Side note is this is not the only poem by Su Shi influencing the High Cloud Quintet... there's also 云无留迹 (Clouds Leave No Trace) for my beloved Jingliu.

凭高眺远，见长空万里，云无留迹。

It's a different type of romantic.

A little fun thing before I tackle 婉约派...

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Rewatching Story of Yanxi Palace - now I realize it's a (mostly) baihe shipping haven

Recently I've been rewatching the Story of Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略), the Qing period palace drama set during the Qianlong Era, I've come to realize that it's really a baihe shipping haven. First of all, Wei Yingluo, the protagonist, is probably one of the most lovable female main characters to have come from c-drama. On bilibili there's always sayings of "爱上魏姐跟呼吸一样简单" (Loving Wei Yingluo is as easy as breathing itself), and I would agree. Omg. Even back when I watched this at a pretty young age when it was coming out back in 2018, I really liked Yingluo, and now, taking another look at it, I love her even more.

Moreover, Wei Yingluo attracts the attention of both men and women in the plot of this drama (romantic or not, it's some type of love, but because I have a romantic ship oriented brain I will just say ship haha) and I still think the majority of them are all really shippable. In just baihe I currently have four ships:

1. 令后 (LingHou, or Wei Yingluo x Fuca Rongyin, the Empress)
2. 令娴 (LingXian, or Wei Yingluo x Shushen, Consort Xian)
3. 令庆 (LingQing, or Wei Yingluo x Lu Wanwan, Consort Qing)
4. 璎明 (YingMing, or Wei Yingluo x Ming Yu)

And gotta admit, even back then when ya girl did not yet know that she was gay she was also pretty invested in the het ships lol? Like.

傅璎 (Fuca Fuheng x Wei Yingluo) is still a ship that sticks out in my memory of fandom because I shed so many tears when they had to part, and there was an amazing fix-it fanfic that I read back then that still cements the memory of this ship in my mind.

利落 (Hongli, the Emperor Qianlong x Wei Yingluo), while I didn't really like this ship back in the day, now I can appreciate the tension and understanding they have for each other. This ship is actually REALLy different from my general taste nowadays, especially in comparison to my other favored het ships like Percabeth and 旌奚, but I've def come to appreciate it a lot more... (begrudingly admitting this, argh)

In any case, LingHou is probably my most favorite out of the baihe ones, because it's just so... mutually shared. YingMing are also very cute and sweet, and I keep on holding onto the fact that Ming Yu was truly the last representation of the happy times they all shared in Changchun Palace. LingXian has the most tension and mutual respect, while LingQing is just. fluff. Sweetness. Two women mothering a child. So cute. ahhh. There is still so much I could write about every ship. Might do more later.

I do think the one leg Yanxi has up on 甄嬛传 (Empresses in the Palace) is that all of the baihe ships I've listed here are relatively healthy. The only one I can name in Zhen Huan would be 眉嬛 (MeiHuan), which, to be fair, is also a great ship, but alas there's a lot more women hurting women in that drama compared to Yanxi (not that Yanxi doesn't have this issue, but I think it showcases more personality and difficulties the characters face, and the repression of feudal dynastic society).

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Reflections on completing the translation of 'If I Could Mail You A Book'

This is technically a bit of a premature reflection given the fact that I still have 22 chapters to edit, but I do have a couple of things that I just want to write down right now.

I was having a terrible February this year when I started the translation of If I Could Mail You A Book. I wasn't sure what I was doing with myself or my studies, and I had hit a wall with my personal endeavors: mainly, writing.

Writing was something that I had picked up during the pandemic and kept as a comfort hobby ever since. To me, there's nothing more satisfying than making characters come alive beneath my pen, and I'd say that if it weren't for my writing background, I would have never gotten into webnovels, translation, or baihe because of that.

Anyways, back to this February. I was just, having a really hard time, so to speak. Even though I had decided to take a creative writing class at school, which was somewhat of a treat for me, I just found it immensely difficult to write anything that I was satisfied with. There was just something in the way. The more I wanted to write, the more I couldn't write because of how sad I was.

Somewhere along that vicious cycle, I randomly thought about Ning Xi.

Ning Xi, a character name in a baihe novel that I had read some time ago, around two years ago, at this point. I hurriedly pulled up Yi Zhan Ye Deng's page and was immediately met with a soothing teal title page: If I Could Mail You A Book.

I didn't exactly read every single character on this skim-through read, but the more I read, the more I was pulled back to these characters. I personally really wish that I could be as good at Ning Xi with writing, and as high an EQ as Xinhe.

Then, just out of a whim, on complete impulsivity, I created a document, typed in 书 tl 1, and just started going. To this day, many months later, I don't know what happened to me, really, for me to just absolutely go like that.

As for translation, I think it's safe to say that I have a complicated relationship with it, for reasons that I won't really go into. But I was just surprised that after two years, a webnovel could just inspire me like that, for me to do it.

And I did the next chapter in the same day, and I suddenly felt that I had something to do this year.

I was on a high pace throughout February and March, especially after I found the baihe comm on dreamwidth, where I realized that there was a community.

It's nearly like Ning Xi in the story itself: I suddenly realized that there was a goal in front of me, and if I wanted to continue writing, I had to slowly work myself out of this slump with other goals in life. And actually, I suddenly felt that I never had that spat with translation, either, and now it just feels great to be able to do this.

There's something about writing, romanticism, growing up, and baihe all mixed in one in this endeavor. I'm glad to have reached the end of it.

So, thank you, especially to Liang Xinhe and Ning Xi.

You were the beautiful things that brought me closer towards the path to spring as well.

If I Could Mail You A Book tl project: officially translated from 2/12/2024- 7/31/2024

hazy.

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wanping

More on WanPing via Shangguan Wan'er's gravestone epitaph

Here's a complete gravestone epitaph analysis that I cut from the main post because archaic Chinese is difficult and I was getting impatient so I posted first haha.

(Also known as with the help of traditional Chinese dictionaries, Baidu and bilibili, I attempt to read between the lines)

In traditional recorded history, Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er had basically no interaction. However, in Shangguan Wan'er’s gravestone epitaph, there is a specific line that records,

太平公主哀伤，赙赠绢五百匹，遣使吊祭，词旨绸缪。

Translation: [Upon hearing Shangguan Wan'er's death], Princess Taiping sank into sorrow. She donated five hundred bolts of fabric [for funeral use], and sent a representative to pay respects, the words of the eulogy written with heartbroken longing.

There interesting thing her is that the phrase 绸缪 chou mou comes from a Shijing (The Odes) article Bin Feng Chi Xiao, and it mostly denotes the fierce love between couples, and has many other uses within Chinese literature history describing such. The fact that this phrase is used here is a huge sign that WanPing's relationship went deeper than first surmised.

Basically, what this line is saying that Princess Taiping donated the capital to make Wan'er's funeral a grand affair, and sent someone before her coffin to pay respects and read the eulogy that she wrote for Wan'er. This particular eulogy had some strong wording that made people describe it as 'chou mou', which in other uses, points to fierce love between regular couples.

Also, there's the final two lines of the epitaph:

潇湘水断，宛委山倾。珠沉圆折，玉碎连城。

甫瞻松槚，静听坟茔。千年万岁，椒花颂声。

Translation: As if the flowing water halts, the mountains are listing and crumbling. As if the round pearls sinking, a city’s worth of jade shattering. Staring off at the pine in front of the tomb, listening to the wind. Even after thousands of years, may people chorus your name as I do.

There's also a notable reference in the last quartet of characters: 椒花颂声 (jiao hua song sheng). 椒花颂 (jiao hua song) is an article written by a notable female author in the Jin dynasty (during a unified period of ancient Chinese history) that was she gave to her husband as a proof of their love. Later, this term in general also generally denotes 'women of talent'. So, I rendered it as 'may people chorus your name [as a woman of extreme talent] as I do.'

These are the lines that still continue to be repeated whenever Shangguan Wan'er's gravestone epitaph is mentioned. Not to mention the astounding use of literary references and how well these two lines flow, they perfectly convey the commissioner's longing for the tomb's owner, or, as previously mentioned, most likely Princess Taiping's true feelings towards Shangguan Wan'er.

Cover of Shangguan Wan'er's epitaph

cover of Shangguan Wan'er's gravestone epitaph. Credit: Shanxi Archeological Museum