The Ming Dynasty novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms exists in many different editions. When Mao Zonggang and his father revised and commented on Romance of the Three Kingdoms during the Qing Dynasty, they placed the poem “Lin Jiang Xian” by the Ming Dynasty poet Yang Shen at the beginning of the novel as its opening verse. Today, let’s discuss the poet Yang Shen and the connection between his poem and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
On and on the Great River rolls, racing east.
Of proud and gallant heroes its white-tops leave no trace,
As right and wrong, pride and fall turn all at once unreal.
Yet ever the green hills stay
To blaze in the west-waning day.
Fishers and woodsmen comb the river isles.
White-crowned, they’ve seen enough of spring and autumn tide
To make good company over the wine jar,
Where many a famed event
Provides their merriment.
Yang Shen (1488–1559) was born into a family of officials. From his great-grandfather onward, five generations of his family served as government officials. Particularly, his father, Yang Tinghe, was a renowned political reformist in the mid-Ming Dynasty and served as the chief minister of two dynasties.
Yang Shen was exceptionally intelligent. He achieved the highest imperial examination score (zhuangyuan) at the age of 24 and became the emperor’s teacher at 33, earning the reputation as the top talent of the Ming Dynasty.
He aspired to contribute to the nation, but due to his upright and outspoken nature, his advice angered the emperor, leading to his exile to Baoshan, Yunnan. He spent 35 years in exile and never returned to the capital.
It is said that on his way to Yunnan, while shackled and escorted by soldiers, he passed through Jiangling, Hubei, where he witnessed a fisherman and a woodcutter cooking fish, drinking wine, and chatting joyfully by the river, living a carefree and unrestrained life. Inspired, he wrote the poem “Lin Jiang Xian · The Rolling Yangtze Eastward Flows.”
In the poem, the poet compares history to the rolling Yangtze River flowing eastward. Those once-powerful heroes and the dynasties that rose and fell were like fleeting waves, briefly dancing before vanishing, leaving nothing behind.
Cao Cao held the emperor hostage to command the nobles/warlords, unified northern China, and laid the foundation for the state of Cao Wei, yet he never proclaimed himself emperor nor unified the entire nation. Liu Bei built his reputation on “benevolence and virtue,” rising from a humble straw-shoe peddler to establishing the state of Shu Han. However, driven by emotion after Guan Yu’s death, he suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Yiling and ultimately died of illness in Baidi City. Guan Yu beheaded Hua Xiong and fought through five passes, slaying six generals, yet due to his arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, he lost Jingzhou city and was eventually killed by Sun Quan. Zhuge Liang launched six northern expeditions from Qishan, and Jiang Wei led nine campaigns against the Central Plains, exhausting their efforts to “restore the Han Dynasty,” yet both ultimately failed. Zhou Yu, the renowned general of the eastern Wu, achieved fame at a young age and was both brave and resourceful, married a beautiful wife, yet he was outwitted by Zhuge Liang and died of anger. In summary, almost all the heroes of the Three Kingdoms died without achieving their ultimate goals. Such is life, such is history.
The cycles of rise and fall, prosperity and decline, repeat endlessly. In the end, right and wrong, success and failure, all come to nothing. Only the green mountains and the red sun remain eternal and unchanging, enduring through time.
Yang Shen uses the permanence of nature to contrast the transience of human affairs, attempting to explore eternal values within the flow and sedimentation of history, provoking deep reflection.
Then, Yang Shen reflects on the past and the present, transitioning from scenery to characters. In traditional Chinese culture, fishermen and woodcutters have long been symbols of reclusive sages, such as Jiang Taigong and Fan Li. The poet uses the fisherman and woodcutter he saw by the river as metaphors for himself, further conveying a life philosophy of detachment, transcendence, and refusal to conform to worldly norms.
When reading this poem, it feels as if we are standing by the long river of history, witnessing with the poet the turbulence and fluctuations of millennia, where countless similar stories repeat their beginnings and endings. We witness the heroes’ pride and triumph in success, as well as the tragedy and loneliness in their failure. We see the prosperity and vitality of dynasties at their peak, and the decay and devastation of their collapse.
They have grown accustomed to the changing scenery on the river and the passage of time, and they disdain the fame and wealth that worldly people pursue. They only wish to meet with close friends, buy a pot of unrefined wine, share joyful conversations, and get drunk together—unrestrained, natural, and free. The events of the past and present are merely topics for their drinking conversations, trivial matters not worth mentioning.
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