Excerpted from the parallel prose preface to Wang Teng-ting by Wang Bo, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, excerpted from the original text:
Wang Teng Linjiang Pearl, Ming Luan continues to sing and dance. The painted building faces Nanpu Cloud, and the bead curtain rolls up the rain in the western hills at dusk.
The shadow of the idle cloud pool is long, and things change for a few years. Where is the emperor in the cabinet today? Outside the threshold, the Yangtze River flows by itself.
Translation:
The towering Wang Teng Pavilion was built on the banks of the Zhu Jiang River, and the scene of Wang Teng's banquet was no longer presented. In the morning, Nanpu light clouds swept over the painting floor of Wang Teng Pavilion, and in the evening, the misty rain in the western hills rolled up the bead curtain of Wang Teng Pavilion.
The leisurely clouds are reflected by the pool, and the changing scenery counts the spring and autumn under the starry sky. Where is Di Zi who built the Wang Teng Pavilion? Only the foreign minister, the river, is rolling eastward.
Extended data
Creative background:
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Yan Mou, governor of Hongzhou, rebuilt this pavilion, and hosted a banquet in Wang Tengting on the ninth day of February last year (675) to entertain group members and guests. The author went south to visit relatives and passed by here. He also attended the ceremony, improvised poems and wrote this preface.
Ideological theme:
The article was written for the banquet based on the terrain and talent of Hongzhou. Write about the magnificence of the Wang Teng Pavilion, with broad vision and bright autumn colors; Then, from banquet entertainment to life experience, express the feelings of life experience; Then the writer's experience and confession should be encouraged by himself, and finally end with poetry and self-deprecating words. The full text reveals the author's ambition and resentment.
About the author:
Wang Bo (about 650-676), Zi 'an, Han nationality, was a writer in the Tang Dynasty. Longmen (now Hejin, Shanxi Province), a native of Gujiangzhou, was born in a Confucian family, and was called "Wang Luo" and "four outstanding men in the early Tang Dynasty" with Yang Jiong and Lu.
He is good at five laws and five unique skills, and his representative works include "Farewell to Vice Governor Du to Shu". The main literary achievement was parallel prose, and Wang Bofu was an important part of early Tang Fu, which in a sense marked the prosperity of early Tang Fu. Both quantity and quality are the best at present. His masterpiece is Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Preface to Wang Teng Pavilion