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Tang Dynasty Jueju Wang Han

Liangzhou Song: Remembering Chang’an

涼州詞二首（其二）

Liángzhōu cí èr shǒu · qí èr

Flowers should already be fading near the capital, while a frontier listener remains in cold sand and hears a willow tune.

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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

秦中花鳥已應闌，

qín zhōng huā niǎo yǐ yīng lán

In Qin, the flowers and birds should already be past their height;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 秦 qín Qin
  2. 中 zhōng region
  3. 花 huā flowers
  4. 鳥 niǎo birds
  5. 已 yǐ already
  6. 應 yīng should
  7. 闌 lán wane
02

塞外風沙猶自寒。

sài wài fēng shā yóu zì hán

beyond the frontier, wind and sand are cold as ever.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 塞 sài frontier
  2. 外 wài beyond
  3. 風 fēng wind
  4. 沙 shā sand
  5. 猶 yóu still
  6. 自 zì itself
  7. 寒 hán cold
03

夜聽胡笳折楊柳，

yè tīng hú jiā zhé yáng liǔ

At night I hear the reed pipe play 'Breaking Willows,'

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 夜 yè night
  2. 聽 tīng hear
  3. 胡 hú Hu
  4. 笳 jiā reed pipe
  5. 折 zhé breaking
  6. 楊 yáng poplar
  7. 柳 liǔ willow
04

教人意氣憶長安。

jiào rén yì qì yì cháng ān

and all my feeling turns toward Chang'an.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 教 jiào makes
  2. 人 rén person
  3. 意 yì feeling
  4. 氣 qì spirit
  5. 憶 yì remember
  6. 長 cháng Chang
  7. 安 ān an

English translation by PoemWell.

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Original

秦中花鳥已應闌，

塞外風沙猶自寒。

夜聽胡笳折楊柳，

教人意氣憶長安。

Translation

In Qin, the flowers and birds should already be past their height;

beyond the frontier, wind and sand are cold as ever.

At night I hear the reed pipe play 'Breaking Willows,'

and all my feeling turns toward Chang'an.

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?

    秦中花鳥已應闌，

    Pronunciation hint

    niǎo

    Reveal meaning and translation

    鳥 — birds

    In Qin, the flowers and birds should already be past their height;

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

    夜聽胡笳折楊柳，

    Pronunciation hint

    jiā

    Reveal meaning and translation

    笳 — reed pipe

    At night I hear the reed pipe play 'Breaking Willows,'

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

    教人意氣憶長安。

    Pronunciation hint

    qì

    Reveal meaning and translation

    氣 — spirit

    and all my feeling turns toward Chang'an.

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 · Home can be imagined, the frontier can be felt

秦中 places the flowers and birds around the capital region. 已應, “should already,” lets the speaker judge their season from a distance. The frontier has 猶自寒, a cold that still persists, and 風沙 gives it something felt on the skin. The first couplet separates the places by what the speaker knows and what the speaker has to imagine.

Lines 3–4 · The tune supplies the connection

胡笳 is the reed pipe, heard at night. 折楊柳 names a tune associated with breaking willow branches. 教人 makes the music cause a human response. The selected 意氣 gives the listener’s spirit or feeling, so the English turns “all my feeling” toward Chang’an. The recorded 氣盡 would make the response sound more explicitly exhausted. The last word names a place the speaker has reached in remembrance while remaining in the frontier cold.

Form and tone

This second seven-character jueju rhymes 闌, 寒, and 安. Its first couplet contrasts imagined home with the immediate frontier; the second supplies the sound that connects them. Modern Mandarin pinyin is provided without a historical tone grid.

Historical context

For Wang Han, homesickness can follow a musical memory rather than a visible road. Read the luminous-cup song first to hear how different its public address is. Then compare Quiet Night Thought, where a small gesture toward moonlight carries thought home without naming a song.

Sources

《全唐詩》, juan 156, Wang Han; the main reading of the Wikisource transcription is followed. Punctuation is editorial.

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

Wang Han. “Liangzhou Song: Remembering Chang’an” (涼州詞二首（其二）). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/liangzhou-song-wang-han-two

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.