【Famous Works by Celebrities】Tang Dynasty, Du Xunhe’s “The Farmer”

Ancient poems still have a wide audience today. An important aspect is that these poets focused on the myriad beings in the world, using their birth, aging, illness, and death as key themes in their poems and verses. They regarded themselves as scholars and officials, looking down on the common people; they wept for them, laughed with them, lamented their lives, and were indignant at their sufferings. The title of this poem is “The Old Farmer,” and it depicts the life of an old peasant. Although his hair is already gray, he still has to work in the fields to make a living and to pay the grain taxes demanded by the authorities. Upon seeing this poem, we are reminded of Li Shen’s famous line: \"There is no idle land in the four seas, yet farmers still starve to death.\" The excessive taxes and levies of that era were truly deadly. The first two sentences describe an old farmer working in the fields. “\"With white hair and weak strength, he still works in the fields alongside his grandchildren,\" which means that this old man already has gray hair and lacks strength, yet he continues to work in the fields; those around him who are busy with the work are his grandchildren. Despite his old age and weakness, he still cannot refrain from engaging in agricultural labor. The most profound part of this poem lies in the last two lines. ““If the taxes imposed by the government are not reasonable, people will suffer from hunger even in years of good harvests.” The taxes and various fees imposed by the authorities are very heavy; if there is embezzlement on a private level, then even in cases where the farmlands yield abundant crops, these farmers may still have to go without food.

That was indeed the case in the agricultural age, but with the advent of the industrial age, various forms of mechanization emerged

Mechanization is good, but it brings about various forms of fear