> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# ‘Hairlines’ goes to China - from the Tang dynasty to present-day Beijing
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/article-827jsp/
- Published: 2002-12-11T00:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-17T11:13:45.000Z
- Author: Candida Clark
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:59, #ImagesUploaded

![superstition](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/A001_ChinesePoetry_superstition_111202_chwJ314-1776424237037.jpg)

superstition

**Bitter Thought**

Green creepers cling to the jade trees,  
And radiant lights play on each other.  
Below are two true men  
Who spread their wings and fly up on high.  
My heart - how it leaps for joy!  
I want to mount up to the clouds and follow.  
Luxuriant is the western mountain peak:  
Stone dwellings, blue, blue, merging with the sky.  
In the midst is an old recluse;  
His beard and hair all white  
As, with his bamboo staff, he comes with me  
And teaches me that I must abandon words.  

**Tu Fu (AD 712 – 770)**  
(From the Selected Poems of Tu Fu, Anvil Press, London 1990, translated by David Hinton)

**Moonlit Night**

Tonight at Fu-chou, this moon she watches  
Alone in our room. And my little, far-off  
Children, too young to understand what keeps me  
Away, or even remember Chang’an. By now,  

Her hair will be mist-scented, her jade-white  
Arms chilled in its clear light. When  
Will it find us together again, drapes drawn  
Open, light traced where it dries our tears?  

(Extract from) **Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River**

The sorrow of riverside blossoms inexplicable,  
And nowhere to complain - I’ve gone half crazy.  
I look up our southern neighbour. But my friend in wine  
Gone ten days drinking. I find only an empty bed.  

A thick frenzy of blossoms shrouding the riverside,  
I stroll, listing dangerously, in full fear of spring.  
Poems, wine - even this profusely driven, I endure.  
Arrangements for this old, white-haired man can wait.

![Nostalgia](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/A011_ChinesePoetry_HaoShiMingNostalgia2000_111202_Kyam0gC-1776424236980.jpg)

Nostalgia

Nostalgia, (2000) oil on canvas by [Hao Shi Ming](http://www.artscenechina.com/index.html?ref=opendemocracy.net)

**Su Shi, Song of River City (recording a dream I had last night)**  
(From [here](http://www.experimedia.vic.gov.au/cyberpoet/zine/biggar/conductor.html?ref=opendemocracy.net))

Ten years-dead and  
living dim and draw  
apart.

I don’t try to remember  
But forgetting is hard.  
Lonely grave a  
thousand miles off,  
  
Cold thoughts - where  
can I talk them out?  
  
Even we met you  
wouldn’t know me,  
  
Dust on face,  
  
Hair like frost –  
  
In a dream last night  
suddenly I was home.  
  
By the window of the little room  
  
You were combing your hair  
and making up.

![hair brushing](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/A002_ChinesePoetry_brushing_111202_76SCBZ8-1776424236990.jpg)

hair brushing

![mother and son](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/A007_ChinesePoetry_motherSon_111202_04qQvn5-1776424237067.jpg)

mother and son

**Yuan Zhen, An Elegy I**  
(From [here](http://users.compaqnet.be/cn127848/chinese/chin%5F3.html?ref=opendemocracy.net))

O youngest, best-loved daughter of Xie,  
Who unluckily married this penniless scholar,  
You patched my clothes from your own wicker basket,  
And I coaxed off your hairpins of gold, to buy wine with;  
For dinner we had to pick wild herbs –  
And to use dry locust-leaves for our kindling.  
…Today they are paying me a hundred thousand –  
And all that I can bring to you is a temple sacrifice.  

![Chinese football fan](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/A008_ChinesePoetry_football-fan_111202_6iFgYWi-1776424237076.jpg)

Chinese football fan

**Yi Sha** (translated by Denis Mair, from [here](http://www.lingshidao.net/?ref=opendemocracy.net))

**Traitor to His Country**

Traitor to his country  
He turns up on foreign soil  
At a soccer stadium  
In the second row of the bleachers,  
A middle-aged man  
Wearing dark glasses  
With a part in his hair,  
He watches the soccer team  
Of the land he turned his back on.  
Now it’s the kickoff:  
His small-footed countrymen  
Can’t play a high game.  
The traitor shouts and waves a flag,  
Charged up with fighting spirit.  
He’s an overseas Chinese,  
Captain of the cheerleading squad.  
The homeland that has out an order  
For his arrest, sees him on T. V.,  
Feeling a little resigned,  
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry.  

Follow the hair trail:

- [Introduction to The Jade Mountain](http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~yhe/poetry/kiang%5Fintro.html?ref=opendemocracy.net), by Kiang Kang-hu – a comprehensive survey of Chinese poetic forms
- [Chinese literature resource](http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Diverse/tangshi.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net)
- Database featuring [Chinese poetry](http://www.lingshidao.com/?ref=opendemocracy.net)  
Also, Amazon links to anthologies of Chinese poetry:
- [One Hundred Poems from the Chinese](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/2VDMAHO0WI6UJ/ref=cm%5Flm%5Flists/102-1825747-0010511?ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Anthology of Chinese poetry](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/VOFUHZNTNZBD/ref=cm%5Flm%5Flists/102-1825747-0010511?ref=opendemocracy.net)