Shuǐ diào gē tóu

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Shui diao ge tou (traditional Chinese: 水調歌頭; simplified Chinese: 水调歌头; pinyin: Shuǐ diào gē tóu) is the name of a tune which is used to rhyme this famous poem, 水調歌頭·丙辰中秋, by the Song dynasty poet Su Shi, commonly known as Su Dongpo.

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[edit] Text of the Poem

水調歌頭1

丙辰2中秋3， 歡飲達旦，
大醉，
作此篇，
兼懷子由4。


明月幾時有？
把酒問青天。
不知天上宮闕5，
今夕是何年？

我欲乘風歸去，
唯恐瓊樓玉宇6，
高處不勝寒。
起舞弄清影7，
何似在人間8！

轉朱閣9，
低綺戶10，
照無眠11。
不應有恨，
何事長向別時圓？

人有悲歡離合，
月有陰晴圓缺，
此事古難全。
但願人長久，
千里共嬋娟12。

[edit] English translation

Bright moon, when did you appear?
Lifting my wine, I question the dark night sky.
Tonight in the palaces and halls of heaven
what year is it, I wonder?

I would like to ride the wind, make my home there,
Only I hide in a jade room of a beautiful mansion,
As I could not bear the cold of high altitudes.
So I rise and dance and play in your pure beams,
this human world — how can it compare with yours?

Circling red chambers,
low in the curtained door,
you shine on the sleepless.
Surely you bear us no ill will —
why then must you be so round at times when we humans are parted!

People have their grieves and joys, their togetherness and separation,
The moon has its dark and clear times, its waxings and wanings.
Situations are never ideal since long ago.
I only hope we two may have long long lives,
So that we may share the moon's beauty even though we are a thousand miles apart.

[edit] Notes on the Poem

  Characters Pinyin Explanation
1. 水調歌頭 shuǐ diào gē tóu The name of a tune.
2. 丙辰 bǐng chén the ninth year of the reign of Song Emperor Shenzong (1076 C.E.), when Su Shi served as magistrate in Mizhou, present-day Zhucheng County in Shandong Province.
3. 中秋 zhōng qiū the Mid-Autumn Festival, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month (lunar calendar); a traditional Chinese holiday when people gather to enjoy the moon, drink wine, and eat. moon cakes
4. 懷 huái to think of, miss.
  子由 Zǐ yóu Su Che (蘇轍/苏辙), courtesy name Ziyou, Su Shi's younger brother, also a famous author; at this time Su Che was in Jinan, Su Shi in Mizhou; the brothers had not seen each other for seven years.
5. 宮闕 gōng què a spectacular palace.
6. 瓊樓玉宇 qióng lóu yù yǔ a building made of beautiful jade, here, the Moon Palace.
7. 弄 nòng to play, to sport; here, "to dance".
  清影 qīng yǐng crisp, cold shadow in the moonlight.
8. 何似 hé sì how can it compare to...
9. 朱閣 zhū gé a red pavilion.
10. 綺戶 qǐ hù a door or window with carved patterns and designs.
11. 無眠 wú mián sleepless; here, refers to a sleepless person.
12. 嬋娟 chán juān originally Chang E, a beauty; here, used to refer to the splendid moon.

[edit] Tunes of the poem

In 1983, Liang Hong Zhi (梁弘誌) composed this poem into an officially produced song entitled "Wishing We Last Forever" (但願人長久) by Teresa Teng in one of her albums Light Exquisite Feeling (淡淡幽情), filled with other poems from dynasties of Tang and Song. In later years, singers like Faye Wong, Jacky Cheung and China Flowers (芳華十八) covered this song in albums and concerts.

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