The year is 353 AD, the ninth year of the Yonghe era. In the lush, mountainous landscape of Shanyin, forty-two scholars gather along a winding creek. They are there for the Spring Purification Festival, a ritual to wash away bad luck, but the atmosphere is far from solemn. It is a celebration of the senses. Wine cups float down the meandering stream; wherever a cup stops, the nearest guest must compose a poem or drink the wine as a penalty.
From this gathering emerged the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion (Lántíngjí Xù), a masterpiece of calligraphy and sentiment by Wang Xizhi. While the physical brushstrokes are revered as the pinnacle of Chinese art, the text itself holds a haunting philosophical weight. It begins in delight—the “luxuriant bamboos,” the clear weather, and the “spotless water” reflecting the sun. The universe feels vast, yet the company is intimate.
However, the mood shifts with the currents of the stream. Wang Xizhi moves from the joy of the gathering to a piercing realization of impermanence. Whether people live quiet lives sharing dreams with friends or recklessly pursue ambition, the result is identical. Satisfaction is fleeting. The moment we find happiness, it is already becoming a memory, receding into the past like a setting star.
“All is ordained to turn to dust and sink.”
This line anchors the piece in a universal melancholy. The author looks at the joy around him and grieves its eventual loss. He anticipates the readers of the future—us—looking back at his time with the same mixture of connection and sadness that he felt looking at his predecessors. It is a handshake across centuries, acknowledging that while trends change, the human struggle with mortality remains constant.
Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion (A Rhyming Poetry Translation)
Centuries later, the Song Dynasty poet Wang Anshi (1021–1086) offered a different perspective on the passage of time in The First Day of the New Year. Where Wang Xizhi found melancholy in the flow of time, Wang Anshi found vigorous renewal.
The poem captures the sensory overload of the Lunar New Year. The air is filled with the sharp crack of burning bamboo—the precursor to modern firecrackers—driving away the old year’s stagnation. The warmth of the spring wind begins to thaw the cold, carrying with it the scent of Tusu wine, an herbal concoction believed to prolong life.
The imagery here is bright and communal. It focuses on the ritual of replacing old peach wood talismans with new ones, a symbolic act of casting off evil spirits to invite fresh fortune. The sun does not set in regret; it rises to illuminate the future.
“A thousand doors, ten thousand houses / Shining in the sun.”
While the scholar at the Orchid Pavilion sighs for what must fade, the poet of the New Year opens the door to what is arriving. One embraces the inevitability of dust; the other, the warmth of the rising spring. Together, they form a complete picture of the human experience regarding time: the sorrow of letting go and the unyielding hope of beginning again.
Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion (A Rhyming Poetry Translation)
