–Mao Zedong, July 1, 1958
Preface
Reading People’s Daily (June 30): Yujiang County has eradicated schistosomiasis.
My thoughts soar; I cannot sleep.
Soft breeze caresses; rising sun gilds the window.
Gazing south, I joyfully take up my brush.
I
Green hills blue streams – all in vain they spread,
Great Hua Tuo could naught against this tiny dread!
Thousand villages choked with fig vines; men lie waste,
Ten thousand households desolate – ghosts sing unblest.
Sitting on earth, we ride eighty thousand li a day,
Sweeping heaven, view a thousand rivers far away.
Cowherd asks of the Plague God’s dark reign –
Same joys and sorrows drift with time’s swift train.
II
Spring winds stir willows – myriads of tender shoots,
Six hundred million in Shenzhou all like sages root.
Red rain at will turns to waves of bright endeavor,
Green hills by design become bridges strong forever.
To Wuling Peaks silver hoes descend in line,
Earth shakes as Three Rivers’ iron arms align.
Pray tell, O Plague Lord – whither wilt thou go?
Paper boats and bright candles blaze to send thee low!
Note
People’s Daily (June 30, 1958) reported Yujiang County (Jiangxi) fully eradicated schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis (“big belly disease”) plagued southern China for 2,000+ years; Mao vowed “We must eliminate schistosomiasis” (1955). These poems celebrate mass mobilization defeating the “Plague God.”
Seven-Character Octave (Qilu)
Classical Chinese poetic form: 8 lines, 7 characters each, strict tonal parallelism, mandatory rhyme, used for grand, reflective themes.
- Legendary Three Kingdoms physician, “father of Chinese surgery.”
- Line: “Even the greatest healer could not defeat the tiny schistosome worm” symbolizing ancient powerlessness against disease.
Yao & Shun
- Ideal rulers of ancient China, symbols of wisdom, virtue, and good governance.
- Line: “Six hundred million Chinese people are all sages” celebrating mass heroism and socialist collective spirit.
Cowherd
- Mythic figure from The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl (Qixi Festival).
- Represents the common folk; his question links celestial myth to earthly suffering.
Sending Off the Plague God
Folk ritual: Burn paper boats & bright candles to expel epidemic deities. Mao reinterprets it as scientific mass mobilization replacing superstition.
Schistosomiasis as “Plague God”
Widespread parasitic disease causing debilitation, infertility, death. Mao dubs it the “Plague God” personification of a national scourge.
Green hills blue streams – all in vain
Beautiful nature is meaningless amid disease and desolation.
Thousand villages choked with fig vines; men lie waste
- Wild fig vines refers to ruined villages.
- Allusion to Records of the Grand Historian > chronic diarrhea from schistosomiasis, near-death suffering.
Ten thousand households desolate – ghosts sing
Hyperbole of depopulation and death.
Sitting on earth, ride eighty thousand li a day
Scientific fact: Earth’s rotation = 40,000 km (80,000 li) daily. Poetic fusion of science and cosmic vision.
Red rain at will turns to waves of bright endeavor
Spring blossoms / revolutionary idealism people’s will shaping nature.
To Wuling Peaks silver hoes descend
Southern mountain ranges refers to mass land reclamation.
Earth shakes as Three Rivers’ iron arms align
Major waterways > mobilized labor transforming nature.
Paper boats and bright candles blaze to send thee low
Folk ritual repurposed: people power expels the Plague God triumph of science & socialism.
毛泽东《七律二首-送瘟神》
其一
绿水青山枉自多，华佗无奈小虫何。
千村薜荔人遗矢，万户萧疏鬼唱歌。
坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河。
牛郎欲问瘟神事，一样悲欢逐逝波。
其二
春风杨柳万千条，六亿神州尽舜尧。
红雨随心翻作浪，青山着意化为桥。
天连五岭银锄落，地动三吴铁臂摇。
借问瘟君欲何往，纸船明烛照天烧。
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