Jia Yi
賈生
Jiǎ shēng
An emperor leans forward to question a gifted adviser. Discover how the final line turns apparent recognition into a criticism of misplaced curiosity.
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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.
Word meanings — Line 1
- 宣室 xuān shì Xuan Chamber
- 求 qiú seek
- 賢 xián worthy talent
- 訪 fǎng consult
- 逐 zhú banished
- 臣 chén minister
Word meanings — Line 2
- 賈 jiǎ Jia
- 生 shēng scholar
- 才 cái talent
- 調 diào quality
- 更 gèng still more
- 無 wú without
- 倫 lún peer
Word meanings — Line 3
- 可 kě worthy of
- 憐 lián pity
- 夜 yè night
- 半 bàn half
- 虛 xū in vain
- 前 qián move forward
- 席 xí mat
Word meanings — Line 4
- 不 bú not
- 問 wèn ask
- 蒼生 cāng shēng the people
- 問 wèn ask
- 鬼神 guǐ shén ghosts and spirits
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
宣室求賢訪逐臣，
賈生才調更無倫。
可憐夜半虛前席，
不問蒼生問鬼神。
Translation
In the Xuan Chamber, seeking talent, the emperor consults a banished minister;
Master Jia's gifts have no equal.
A pity that at midnight the emperor moves his mat forward in vain:
he asks nothing about the people, only about ghosts and spirits.
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.
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Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?
宣室求賢訪逐臣，
Pronunciation hint
xuān shì
Reveal meaning and translation
宣室 — Xuan Chamber
In the Xuan Chamber, seeking talent, the emperor consults a banished minister;
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
可憐夜半虛前席，
Pronunciation hint
bàn
Reveal meaning and translation
半 — half
A pity that at midnight the emperor moves his mat forward in vain:
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
不問蒼生問鬼神。
Pronunciation hint
cāng shēng
Reveal meaning and translation
蒼生 — the people
he asks nothing about the people, only about ghosts and spirits.
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.
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Line-by-line notes
Lines 1–2 — What a gifted adviser might expect
求賢 makes the ruler appear to be seeking someone worthy, while 逐臣 reminds us that the person summoned had been sent away. 更無倫 intensifies the praise of Jia Yi. His abilities have no equal. These lines make a serious use of his talents sound possible.
Lines 3–4 — What the emperor asks
前席 means moving forward on the sitting mat. The English names the emperor, whom the Chinese leaves implicit in the line. The recorded audience runs until midnight, and the emperor moves forward to listen. Li Shangyin adds 虛, “in vain,” to judge that attention. The repeated 問 sets the subject he does not ask about, 蒼生 or the people, beside the ghosts and spirits he does ask about. That change of subject is why the translation takes 可憐 as “a pity.” Jia Yi’s biography in Records of the Grand Historian
Form and tone
This seven-character jueju builds praise and then reverses its apparent meaning. The repeated 問 in the last line makes the judgment precise. Read the first two lines again after the ending: the celebrated meeting has become an example of talent being consulted for the wrong purpose.
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
Jia Yi was a Han writer and adviser. The poem draws on the remembered audience with Emperor Wen to question the use a ruler makes of exceptional ability. It does not need an identified Tang official as a hidden equivalent for every person in the historical scene.
Continue with Li Shangyin and the memory reading path. Compare Passing Jia Yi’s House in Changsha and Red Cliff using the reading connections below.
Sources
賈生 — 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. “Jia Yi” (賈生). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/jia-yi-li-shangyin
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.