SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

political allegory

  • Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas (10 of 13)

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    Jingwei carries tiny twigs in her beak,Intending to fill the vast blue sea.Xingtian dances with his shield and battle-axe,His fierce resolve forever remains. Though mortal life is spent, no sorrow lingers;Transformed into strange beings, they harbor no regrets.The fierce ambitions of the past still burn within,But how could they ever wait for a time…

  • Han Feizi – Chapter 13.2

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    Han Feizi extends the jade metaphor: legal statecraft, like raw jade, is valuable yet opposed. Rulers must back reformers against elites.

  • Han Feizi – Chapter 13.1

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    Han Feizi tells He Shi’s jade story: true talent/statecraft is often misjudged and persecuted before its value is revealed.

  • The Wren Ode – Jiaoliao Fu

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    – By Zhang Hua (Western Jin Dynasty) The wren is but a tiny bird –Born among weeds and wild grasses,Raised beneath garden hedges.It flutters and gathers within ordinary spaces,Yet its needs for life are fully met.

  • To the Parrot [Tang Poems]

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    — Luo Yin Do not complain of golden cage and wings cut short; The southern land is far warmer than the northwest. Don’t clearly speak if you listen to my exhort; You will offend if clearly your complaint’s expressed.

  • The Yellow River [Tang Poems]

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    — Luo Yin Don’t try to make the muddy Yellow River clean! Could Heaven mirrored in the waves be clearly seen? How could a winding stream go up the Milky Way? Just out of Mount Kunlun, it is muddy like clay. In vain the emperor swore to narrow it down; Could a raft reach…

  • The Chrysanthemum [Tang Poems]

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    — Huang Chao When autumn comes, the Mountain-climbing Day is nigh; My flower blows when other blooms come to an end. In battle array its fragrance rises sky-high, The capital with its golden armor will blend.