The first beat:
When I was first born, the world was peaceful, but when I grew up, the Han Dynasty's fortunes declined sharply. The heavens are not benevolent! It has sent down wars and dislocations. The earth does not see benevolence ah! I was born at the wrong time. The wars went on and on! The world is a difficult place; the people are displaced! The Han people are all lamenting.
Smoke covered the fields! The Hu soldiers have been plundering the land; they are living against their will, and they are ashamed of losing their integrity. The Xiongnu customs are so different that it is hard for Han women to fit in; they have suffered all sorts of shame! Who can I cry to? I play a reed and a yaoqin; I am full of grief and resentment, but no one knows that I have no relatives.
The second beat:
The Hu people forced me to be their concubine; they held me hostage as I traveled westward to the end of the world. The mountains are heavy with clouds, and the journey back to the land is difficult; the wind is blowing thousands of miles, and dust and sand are rising everywhere. The Hu soldiers were numerous and brutal, barbaric and fierce as vipers; they carried bows and arrows and wore armor, and wielded whips with arrogance along the way. The heart and mind have long been driven to exhaustion, and the only thing left to do is to grieve alone and in vain.
The third beat:
Crossing the border of the Han Dynasty, we entered the city of Xiongnu; we lost our homes and our bodies! It is better to live than to die. I'm wearing a fur coat, but my heart is pounding and my bones are cold; the mutton stinks, and I'm forced to swallow with tears in my eyes.
Midnight winds rolled yellow sand, unknowingly blocking the door. I can't stop singing about the past and the present, and the three beats of reed are made again; when will my grief and indignation be solved?
Fourth beat:
This is how it is day and night! I've been thinking about my hometown, and I've been thinking about the people in the world who can't breathe! Who is more miserable than me? I can only blame me for my thin life! I've been in the Huns ever since.
How can we eat and live together when we have different customs and habits, and how can we listen to each other when we have different hobbies? I'm not sure if I've ever been to a place where I've had a good time or a bad time! The tune is sad and miserable.
Fifth beat:
The geese are flying far away, until there is no trace of them! I can only think about it in silence. Locked eyebrows looking at the moon, gently playing the elegant piano; five beats of the tune of a clear and quiet ah! The sorrowful mood is even deeper.
Sixth beat:
Listening to the water of the Long River in the distance at night! I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get a good look at it, but I'm sure I'm going to be able to get a good look at it! The road back is slow where? I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get a good look at this, but I'm sure I'm going to be able to get a good look at this. After the six beats of the song, the sadness starts all over again! I will not play it again.
Seventh beat:
The customs of the Huns are too cruel, treating the old, weak, sick and disabled people cheaply; the young and strong eat delicious food, and I can't bear to watch. Wherever the water and grass are plentiful and beautiful, we build our homes and camps. The hills are filled with cattle and sheep, like honeycombs and ants. After the seven beats of the song, I hate it! I hate these days of uncertainty.
The eighth beat:
If the God of heaven is really spiritual! Why did you let me be alone and miserable? I have done nothing wrong to the God of Heaven. Why did you make me match with a husband who is not worthy of me? What crime have I committed against the God of Heaven? Why do you punish me for being in a desolate country? I made the eighth reed song! I just hope I can get rid of my sorrows here.
Ninth beat:
The sky is boundless! The sea is boundless; the sorrow in my heart is also boundless. Life is so short, time is like watching a horse gallop through a crack in the wall; full of sorrow! I can't find a bit of joy in it; I'm sorry I'm in the prime of my life.
The tenth beat:
The beacon at the top of the city is not extinguished, when will the battlefield stop? Every day, the city gates are filled with murderous rage, and night after night, we hear the north wind blowing the moon by the side. The information of the hometown is cut off, and the bitter tears of the gas will end; ten beats sings a deep hatred ah! The teardrops are like drops of blood.
The eleventh beat:
I am not greedy for life but afraid of death, I can't donate my life because of my own reasons; the sun and the moon are like shuttles, year after year; I am suffering in Xiong Nu; my husband favors me, and I have a son, I like him very much; I am not aware of the responsibility of my mother to bring up them, I don't know the shame and disgrace at all; eleven beats of Hu Jia add a new song to the tune, and the love of flesh and blood is added from now on!
The twelfth beat:
The earth returned to the spring with warmth, and the son of the Han Dynasty made peace; the two countries were happy without war, and from now on, they could stop fighting. I met a messenger from the Han Dynasty, who came to redeem my body, but I was sorry to leave my son behind! It's hard to see him again. The twelve beats of the song are divided in half between joy and sorrow, and there is no way to stay or go!
The thirteenth beat:
Who would have thought that the rest of my life would be back in the Han Kingdom; embracing my two children! The tears are like rain on my lapel. The separation of life and death is very painful! I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it back to Han, but I'm going to be able to make it back to Han, and I'm going to be able to make it back to Han. The thirteen beats of the zither! The strings are so fast and sad that it breaks the heart.
The fourteenth beat:
Late at night, in a trance, I dreamt that my child was by my side. In my dream, I was holding my hand! A joyful and a sad one; waking up, my heart aches, when will there be a rest. When will there be rest? I'm not going to be able to get a good deal out of this one.
The fifteenth beat:
The fifteenth beat of the tune is rapid, and the air fills the chest, who knows? I'm living in a tent, I'm married to a hu-man, I'm attached to my heart! I'm so happy, I'm so sad. The mother and child are separated from each other! How can my heart bear it? I don't know if I'll live or die, so I don't know where to look.
The sixteenth beat:
The sixteenth beat is a long way off, my son and I are on different sides of the world; we look at each other day and night! I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get through this, but I'm sure I'll be able to get through this, so I'll be able to get through it.
The seventeenth beat:
The seventeenth beat of the piano is a sad one, and the road is difficult because of the mountains. The wild grasses on the border, the withered leaves are dry and cold to the eyes; the people are tired and exhausted, and all their energy has been used up.
The eighteenth beat:
The eighteenth beat of the zither has come to an end, and the aftermath of the music is so sad that it is hard to finish. The Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty, different regions and customs; like the sky and the earth are forever separated, the son in the west and the mother in the east. The four directions of heaven and earth are vast! I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to take in my sadness.
Expanded:
1. Introduction to the Score
The end of the Han Dynasty was a time of great turmoil and successive years of fire. Cai Wenji was taken captive by the Xiong Nu during her flight, and was stranded outside the Seychelles, where she was later married to King Zuo Xian, and gave birth to two sons and daughters. She spent twelve springs and autumns outside of the city, but she missed her hometown all the time. When Cao Cao pacified the Central Plains and made peace with Xiong Nu, he sent his envoys to ransom Wen Ji with a large amount of money, and she wrote a famous poem "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia", which recounted her unfortunate life experience. There are versions of the zither music, such as "Big Hu Jia", "Small Hu Jia" and "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia". Although the tunes are different, they all reflect Cai Wen Ji's extremely contradictory and painful feelings of missing her hometown and not tolerating the separation of her flesh and bones. The music is euphemistic and sad, tearing the liver and intestines.
"Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia" is an ancient musical instrument song, one chapter is one beat, *** eighteen chapters, so it has this name, reflecting the theme of "Cai Wen Ji Returning to Han". At the end of the Han Dynasty, during the war, Cai Wen Ji was exiled to the South Xiongnu for twelve years. As the wife of King Zuo Xian, she missed her hometown very much, and when Cao Cao sent someone to fetch her back to the mainland, she had to leave her two children, and the joy of returning to her hometown was drowned out by the pain of parting with her flesh and blood, and she had very ambivalent feelings.
2. Literary value
Cao Cao should be one of the most outstanding emperors in history in terms of his literary and martial skills. Even Emperor Wu of Wei appreciated the character, although female, should be a top figure. This person is Cai Yan.
Being a genius in music, she left behind the "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia" zither song, which is one of the ten most popular ancient songs. In literature, she left behind "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia", "Poem of Sorrow and Anger" and other masterpieces. Guo Moruo praised "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia" in this way, "It is like the rolling waves of the sea, it is like the active volcano erupting with lava, and it is a great cry spouted out with the whole soul."
Guo Moruo also called "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia," "a long lyric poem most worthy of appreciation since Qu Yuan's Li Sao." And "Poems of Sorrow and Anger", recent people thought that the literary value of this work could be compared with the works of Jian'an Seven Sons.
3. Later Influence
After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, all Han Chinese became slaves of their country. Wang Yuanliang, a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, played "Eighteen Barbarian Pieces of Barbarian Pipe" for Wen Tianxiang, who was in prison, in order to express the "endless sorrow" of the broken mountains and rivers. During this period, "Eighteen Barbarian Pieces of Barbarian Pipe" was quickly spread among the old officials of the former Southern Song Dynasty. According to the record of "The Complete Book of Qin",
This piece of music caused unprecedented ****sing. Some people say, "怊怅悲愤，思怨昵昵，多少情，尽寄《胡笳十八拍》." And there appeared such poems as "patting the syllables of Hu Jia, the heart of Yanshan lonely base is iron" and "Cai Yan wanted to fly with his arm to return home, and he played the song with the aid of the qin, but could not win the grief".
"Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia" is just a piece of piano music, which expresses the feeling of sadness, but it is also the "Hao Ran's complaint". After the death of Song Dynasty, perhaps it is this kind of widely circulated music which is full of the "sorrow" and "hatred" that makes the "heart of stone and iron" stick to the end, and thus the bloodline of race and culture is uninterrupted. It is only through the perseverance of "Iron of Heart" that the race and culture will be continued and sustained. More than eighty years later, when the anti-Yuan soldiers crossed the Jiangnan River, the race and culture can finally be reborn.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Eight Songs of Hu Jia