Liangzhou Song: The Chanyu Looks North
涼州詞二首（其二）
Liángzhōu cí èr shǒu · qí èr
The second Liangzhou song stages sacrifice, a request for alliance, and an emperor’s refusal in four compressed lines.
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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
- 單 chán Chan
- 于 yú yu; ruler
- 北 běi north
- 望 wàng looks
- 拂 fú Brush
- 雲 yún Cloud
- 堆 duī Mound
Word meanings — Line 2
- 殺 shā kill
- 馬 mǎ horse
- 登 dēng ascend
- 壇 tán altar
- 祭 jì sacrifice
- 幾 jǐ how many
- 回 huí times
Word meanings — Line 3
- 漢 hàn Han
- 家 jiā house
- 天 tiān Heaven
- 子 zǐ Son
- 今 jīn now
- 神 shén divinely
- 武 wǔ martial
Word meanings — Line 4
- 不 bù not
- 肯 kěn agree
- 和 hé peace
- 親 qīn marriage
- 歸 guī return
- 去 qù go
- 來 lái particle
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
單于北望拂雲堆，
殺馬登壇祭幾回。
漢家天子今神武，
不肯和親歸去來。
Translation
The chanyu looks north toward Brush-Cloud Mound;
how many times has he climbed the altar to sacrifice a horse?
The Han emperor now commands a godlike force:
'No marriage alliance. Turn back and go.'
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.
-
Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?
單于北望拂雲堆，
Pronunciation hint
wàng
Reveal meaning and translation
望 — looks
The chanyu looks north toward Brush-Cloud Mound;
-
Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
漢家天子今神武，
Pronunciation hint
zǐ
Reveal meaning and translation
子 — Son
The Han emperor now commands a godlike force:
-
Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
不肯和親歸去來。
Pronunciation hint
qīn
Reveal meaning and translation
親 — marriage
'No marriage alliance. Turn back and go.'
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 · Looking and returning to the altar
單于, chányú, is the ruler's title. 北望 supplies the direction of his gaze, toward the place named 拂雲堆, Brush-Cloud Mound. 殺馬, 登壇, and 祭 put the horse, the ascent to the altar, and the sacrifice into a short succession of actions. 幾回 asks how often the ritual has taken place and gives the opening the sense of repeated effort.
Lines 3–4 · The imperial answer
漢家天子 invokes the Han imperial name within the poem's frontier vocabulary. 今 brings the assertion into the present, and 神武 praises the ruler's military force. The question about past occasions gives way to a claim about the present balance of power.
和親 refers to a marriage alliance between ruling houses. 不肯 is a refusal, and 歸去來 sends the petitioner back. The English puts this dismissal in quotation marks to bring out the change of voice. That choice presents the close as a command heard from the imperial side, within the compressed and partisan scene of the poem.
Form and tone
A seven-character jueju, this is the second complete poem under the Liangzhou heading. 堆, 回, and 來 form its rhyme sequence. Ritual action fills the opening pair, an assertion of power the closing pair. Modern pinyin is supplied without an inferred historical tone grid.
Historical context
Read Wang Zhihuan's two frontier songs separately before combining them into one attitude. The first emphasizes exclusion from spring; this one gives the imperial side an emphatic voice. Wang Han's second song returns attention to a listener whose thoughts travel to Chang'an.
Sources
《全唐詩》, juan 253, Wang Zhihuan section, checked in the Wikisource transcription. The printed main reading is followed; 爲 is normalized to 為. 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 Zhihuan. “Liangzhou Song: The Chanyu Looks North” (涼州詞二首（其二）). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/liangzhou-song-wang-zhihuan-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.