The works of Li Po, the Chinese poet | ||
166
[OMITTED]
117. ON HIS WHITE HAIR
On the face of the bright mirror, I wonder,
Whence has come this hoar frost of autumn!
Ah, my long, long white hair of three thousand chang,
Grown so long with the cares of this world!
Whence has come this hoar frost of autumn!
Ah, my long, long white hair of three thousand chang,
Grown so long with the cares of this world!
Chang is a Chinese unit of measure equal, perhaps, to ten feet. White hair 30,000 feet is certainly long. But this is not ludicrous to Chinese taste, for it is not a foolish extravagance but an innocent form of poetic indulgence.
In Chinese literature figures such as one thousand, three thousands, and ten thousands, simply denote a large number. So we read constantly of a party of ten thousand guests, a waterfall three thousand feet high, and a man emptying one thousand jugfuls of wine.
The works of Li Po, the Chinese poet | ||