Home › Poems › Farewell to Xin Jian at Hibiscus Tower
Fú Róng Lóu Sòng Xīn JiànFarewell to Xin Jian at Hibiscus Tower 芙蓉楼送辛渐
Wang Changling sends a message of integrity to friends in Luoyang.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
寒雨连江夜入吴
hán yǔ lián jiāng yè rù wú
平明送客楚山孤
píng míng sòng kè chǔ shān gū
洛阳亲友如相问
luò yáng qīn yǒu rú xiāng wèn
一片冰心在玉壶
yī piàn bīng xīn zài yù hú
Simplified characters; traditional title: 芙蓉樓送辛漸.
English translation
A cold rain mingled with the river steals into Wu by night;
At dawn I see my guest off; the Chu hills stand alone in light.
If kinsfolk and friends in Luoyang should ask if I am all right,
Tell them I'm pure of heart as ice in a crystal vase of white.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first two lines are bleak: cold rain at night, a lonely hill at dawn. The second half turns the farewell into a statement about the poet himself. Gossip may have followed his demotion, but the message to Luoyang is that his heart is "a piece of ice in a jade pot" — clear, cool and spotless. The image became a proverb for integrity.
Background
Written around 742 when Wang Changling, demoted to Jiangning, saw off his friend Xin Jian from Hibiscus Tower in Runzhou (today's Zhenjiang) on his way north to Luoyang.
Key words
- 平明 píng míng
- dawn
- 楚山 chǔ shān
- the hills of Chu, i.e. the south
- 冰心 bīng xīn
- a heart pure as ice
- 玉壶 yù hú
- a jade vessel
About the poet: Wang Changling
Wang Changling was called the "Master of the Seven-Character Quatrain." His frontier poems about soldiers and border fortresses, and his poems of farewell, are among the most anthologized of the Tang.
Lifetime: c. 698–756. Other famous works: Out to the Frontier (出塞); Farewell to Xin Jian at Hibiscus Tower (芙蓉楼送辛渐); Lotus-Picking Song (采莲曲); Seeing Off Censor Chai (送柴侍御).