–Mao Zedong, Summer 1954 Great rain pours on Youyan’s ancient land;White waves surge high to touch the sky’s broad span.Beyond Qinhuangdao, fishing boats once planned –Now lost in one vast wild and watery band.Where can they be, in this unending stand?
Version 1 (Oct 1950 – National Day) Long night shrouded China’s dark, unbroken sky;A century of fiends ran wild, passed by.Five hundred million people torn, denied.One cock’s crow bursts – day breaks, all darkness flies;From every land, sweet songs from Khotan rise.Poets’ joy soars high, unmatched, unties.
–Mao Zedong, April, 1949 Tea talks in Canton still fresh in my mind,Verses sought in Chongqing when leaves declined.Thirty-one years back to our native land,When flowers fall I read your writing grand.Beware too much grief that tears your frame;See all things wide with a long, calm aim.Do not say Kunming Lake’s waters are thin;Watching…
Mao Zedong – April 1949 O’er Purple Mountain, storms surge sudden, wild and gray;A million mighty troops cross the great Yangtze.Like tiger crouched, dragon coiled, the city shines todayFar brighter than past days; earth turns, heaven realigns –Hearts swell with joy, with triumph’s grand designs.Strike on with leftover might, chase the routed foe;Don’t fish…
–Mao Zedong, December 1936 Red flags on walls in sunset glow,West winds sweep o’er the lone fort’s brow.Bao’an sees new faces all around.In cave-halls feasts abound,For one just freed from prison’s bound.
–Mao Zedong, February 1936 Behold the northern land’s grand view:A thousand leagues locked in ice and frost,Ten thousand leagues where snowflakes lostIn whirling flight the sky bestrew.Great Wall stretches far, beyond and near;One vast white waste alone appears.The Yellow River’s mighty tideFrom source to sea is stilled, dried.Mountains like silver serpents glide;Plains like waxen…
–Mao Zedong – October 1935 The sky so high, clouds thin and light,We watch wild geese fly south out of sight.None but a hero reaches the Great Wall;We count – twenty thousand li we’ve hauled.On Six Coiled Mountain’s crest so tall,Red flags stream wide in western wind’s call.Long cords in our hands today we…
–Mao Zedong, 1935 Heaven-piercing, primeval, vast Kunlun stands,Bearing all the springs of mortal lands.Three million jade dragons soar on high,Chilling all the sky to ice and sky.Summer thaws; floods o’er rivers swell,Men to fishes’ prey in depths may dwell.Who has dared judge, through ages old,Thy good and ill, thy story untold?
–Mao Zedong, 1935 The Red Army fears not the Long March’s strife;Ten thousand streams and hills are light in life.The Five Ranges twist like ripples small;The Wumeng peaks vast as mud balls fall.Golden Sand’s waves beat warm cliffs on high;Cold iron chains span Dadu’s bridge nigh.We joy to see Min Shan’s snow for miles;Our…