An example of how to achieve the qualities of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance in poetry

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This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2016-9-30 at 10:04. Wishing all marine enthusiasts a happy holiday. A foreign friend in his fifties who is very fond of China, because he loves Chinese cuisine and poetry. Once, while enjoying delicious food and discussing poetry, the foreign old man said that he greatly admired a modern Chinese patriotic poet from Confucius’ hometown, named Zhuang Chongchan (a transliteration). I said I had never heard of this person, so the foreigner improvised and recited a poem by this poet in Chinese for me: The distant Mount Tai, displaying its dark silhouette ； A solid foundation supports the superficial upper layers ； If one day, someone were to turn that universe upside down ； Outdated traditions are bound to face earthquakes and collapses of mountains. This is what he translated into Chinese after seeing the English poem. He said this isn’t the original text, but the meaning should be similar. He also said later that this poem contained very profound implications ( foreigners really can’t understand the subtlety of the Chinese; it’s so explicit yet they still claim there are profound implications in it), expressing his patriotic desire to overthrow the old system and establish a new one. I’m very embarrassed to say once again that I’ve never heard this poem either. The foreign old man told me some more anecdotes about this poet. For example, he led a dissolute life and had affairs with many women, but he respected them greatly. When he discovered that one of his concubines was having an affair with one of his subordinates, he not only did not pursue legal action but also gave them money for travel so they could leave (his generosity surpasses even that of King Zhuang of Chu at the banquet where he removed his tassels). He was also said to place great importance on filial piety; when he was young, his mother abandoned him and remarried. Once he became a high-ranking official, he not only held no grudges against his mother but also went out of his way to find her and brought her along with his stepfather to live with him so that they could spend their remaining years in comfort. He was also said to have been a high-ranking official in charge of several provinces, but he didn’t understand **; he was defeated in the civil war and later assassinated. Logically, with these conditions given, it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out who this person is, but I still haven’t been able to identify this person or this poem. Until one day I came across Zhang Zongchang’s poem: From afar, Mount Tai appears dark; its top is thin while its base is thick. If Mount Tai were turned upside down, it would be thin at the bottom and thick at the top.