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Tang Dynasty Jueju Li Shangyin

Because There Is Such Beauty

為有

Wèi yǒu

A woman finds that marriage to a high official brings lonely nights. Read how his prestigious rank becomes a rival to intimacy when morning court calls.

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Read the original and its translation together. Open a line’s word meanings for a closer look.

About the text and pronunciation

The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.

01

為有雲屏無限嬌，

wèi yǒu yún píng wú xiàn jiāo

Because beyond the cloud-patterned screen there is boundless charm,

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 為 wèi because
  2. 有 yǒu there is
  3. 雲 yún cloud-patterned
  4. 屏 píng screen
  5. 無 wú without
  6. 限 xiàn limit
  7. 嬌 jiāo charm
02

鳳城寒盡怕春宵。

fèng chéng hán jìn pà chūn xiāo

with the capital's cold over, spring nights become a worry.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 鳳 fèng phoenix
  2. 城 chéng city
  3. 寒 hán cold
  4. 盡 jìn ends
  5. 怕 pà fear
  6. 春 chūn spring
  7. 宵 xiāo night
03

無端嫁得金龜婿，

wú duān jià dé jīn guī xù

For no good reason, she has married a gold-tortoise husband:

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 無 wú without
  2. 端 duān reason
  3. 嫁 jià marry
  4. 得 dé obtain
  5. 金 jīn gold
  6. 龜 guī tortoise
  7. 婿 xù husband
04

辜負香衾事早朝。

gū fù xiāng qīn shì zǎo cháo

he forsakes the fragrant quilt to attend the dawn court.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 辜 gū fail
  2. 負 fù betray
  3. 香 xiāng fragrant
  4. 衾 qīn quilt
  5. 事 shì attend
  6. 早 zǎo early
  7. 朝 cháo court

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

為有雲屏無限嬌，

鳳城寒盡怕春宵。

無端嫁得金龜婿，

辜負香衾事早朝。

Translation

Because beyond the cloud-patterned screen there is boundless charm,

with the capital's cold over, spring nights become a worry.

For no good reason, she has married a gold-tortoise husband:

he forsakes the fragrant quilt to attend the dawn court.

Try it from memory

After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    為有雲屏無限嬌，

    Pronunciation hint

    píng

    Reveal meaning and translation

    屏 — screen

    Because beyond the cloud-patterned screen there is boundless charm,

  2. Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?

    無端嫁得金龜婿，

    Pronunciation hint

    dé

    Reveal meaning and translation

    得 — obtain

    For no good reason, she has married a gold-tortoise husband:

  3. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    辜負香衾事早朝。

    Pronunciation hint

    qīn

    Reveal meaning and translation

    衾 — quilt

    he forsakes the fragrant quilt to attend the dawn court.

One more question: what changes?

Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.

Line-by-line notes →

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 — A reason with something missing

為有 begins a “because” clause, but the reason it gives seems to lead to pleasure. 雲屏 places the beauty behind a cloud-patterned screen, and 寒盡 announces an end to the capital’s cold. 怕春宵 then makes the spring night a worry. The reader has the feeling before knowing why such an evening should cause it.

Lines 3–4 — The title that costs a morning

無端 carries the rueful complaint of having ended up married to this husband. 金龜 identifies a mark of official standing. The English keeps “gold-tortoise” and gives the scene a third-person voice. 辜負 means failing or forsaking something deserving of attention, here the fragrant quilt, while 事早朝 names the public duty of attending court early. The emblem that might be a source of pride is thus also the reason the private scene cannot last.

Form and tone

The four seven-character lines delay the practical source of the complaint until the very end: 早朝, early court attendance. The opening causal phrase keeps the reader expecting an explanation. Public honor and private warmth are placed in a small comic conflict rather than a long argument.

See jueju for the larger formal pattern. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; a historical level/oblique grid is not inferred from those modern tones.

Historical context

鳳城 is a literary name for the capital. The scene belongs to a world of official rank and household intimacy, but the poem does not name its couple. It should not be used as a literal account of Li Shangyin’s marriage or an identified courtier’s private life.

Continue with Li Shangyin and the love reading path. Compare Night Rain: Sent North and Nan Ge Zi: A Golden Parrot in Her Hand using the reading connections below.

Sources

為有 — Chinese text. Checked against the linked Wikisource transcription. The displayed traditional text follows this reading. Punctuation and line breaks are editorial. Translation, glosses, and reading notes are original to PoemWell.

English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Updated .

Cite this reading

Li Shangyin. “Because There Is Such Beauty” (為有). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/because-of-her-beauty

Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.