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Simplified Chinese
作者：李白
《清平调》
云想衣裳花想容，春风拂槛露华浓。
若非群玉山头见，会向瑶台月下逢。
Traditional Chinese with Hanyu Pinyin
zuò zhě lǐ bái
作 者 ：李 白
qīnɡ pínɡ diào
《 清 平 調 》
yún xiǎnɡ yī shanɡ huā xiǎnɡ rónɡ, chūn fēnɡ fú kǎn lù huá nónɡ.
雲 想 衣 裳 花 想 容 ， 春 風 拂 檻 露 華 濃 。
ruò fēi qún yù shān tóu jiàn, huì xiànɡ yáo tái yuè xià fénɡ.
若 非 群 玉 山 頭 見 ， 會 向 瑤 臺 月 下 逢 。
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Li Bai was asked to compose a few verses to the tune of "Qingping" when he was summoned to the palace where the Tang Ming Emperor and Yang Gufei was enjoying the peony blossoms. Li Bai was so drunk that he made the eunuch, Gao Lishi helped him removed his boots and to grind his ink.
Insulted, Gao interpreted allusions to Yang Guifei that the (complete) verses of the poem as referring to women who brought the country to ruin. Li Bai was soon sent packing and never returned to the capital.
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Basic Guidelines: Francois, Richard, allow me to just copy yours and paste here.
(1) *Everyone* is welcome to join in! You are especially welcome if this will be your first time doing this.
(2) Please wait until this Friday (Singapore time?) to post your translation.
(3) Kindly see François's earlier post regarding feedback:
The rules are pretty simple:
1- No posting of translation before Friday
2- This is not a contest, there is no reward or price. It is just for the fun of learning
3- Beginners are welcome, if this thread can help people realise that it is not *that* difficult, and that nice translations can be made by beginners in Chinese (or in English), it will be a success
4- Consequently, no criticising of others' attempts, no jury, no teacher, no correction. Highbrow, or disparaging comments (esp from people who don't translate) are discouraged
5- Translations must be yours. As most of the poems are famous, you can easilly find translations on the internet or at the library, we don't want those…
6- If you feel that you can't, if you feel embarrassed, don't ! We've all been there ! (and don't listen to people saying you need so many years of practice before you can even dare look at those poems... this is ridiculous)
7- There is no policy, and no criteria on what constitute a good or bad translation, you can try to be close to the chinese original, or "interpret it" as you see fit, you can try to make it rhyme, or not. In fact, the most interesting part is to see how different, yet faithful in different ways, some attempts may be.
An additional note to the non-english, like me... If you feel like posting in your language (in addition to the english) that's fine too. I'll do that at times (some pieces 'fall better' in french). But just do it the exception, not the rule...
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Edit: Added the Basic Guidelines..
Edited by Moon, 29 August 2008 - 11:32 AM.
