Jingxiang Travel Notes 036 | Shen Yuan

Time: November 2009

Location: Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province

Chapter 36 of Jingxiang’s Travels | Shen Yuan

Generally speaking, I won’t write travel notes about travel experiences like this where I can’t remember the specific time and can’t find photos, but this article is an exception because Lu You and Tang Wan have so many stories. So I searched some photos on the Internet and wrote down my thoughts about my visit to Shen Garden.

Shen Garden, also known as "Shen's Garden", is the private garden of a wealthy businessman named Shen in the Southern Song Dynasty. It was built in the Song Dynasty and has a history of more than 800 years. It is the only Song-style garden that has been preserved to this day among the many classical gardens in Shaoxing. In the garden, there are pavilions, small bridges, flowing water, and green trees, all showing the scenery of Jiangnan.

Landscapes such as the Solitary Crane Pavilion, Banbi Pavilion, Shuanggui Hall, Bayong Tower, Songjing, Shepu, Wenmei Sill, Qintai and Guangsuzhai in Shen Garden are ordered according to the historical appearance or the cultural connotation of Shen Garden. Distributed in the three major areas of Shenyuan, they have formed the "Elegy of Broken Clouds", "Love in Poetic Land", "Shocking Waves of Spring", "Remnant of the Broken Wall", "Lone Crane Wailing", "Blue Lotus Reflecting the Sun", Ten scenes include "The Willows on the Palace Wall", "Walking on the Snow and Asking the Plum Blossoms", "The Fragrance of Poems and Books" and "The Magpie Bridge Expressing Love".

To be honest, these scenic spots have been blurred in my memory, and I can’t even remember how big Shen Garden is, but I always remember the poems written by Lu You and Tang Wan – because I came here for these two poems.

As for the reason why Lu You and his first wife Tang Wan broke up, the official statement is: Lu You and his cousin Tang Wan were childhood sweethearts. After marriage, they fell in love with each other, respected each other as guests, and had a deep love as husband and wife. But this aroused dissatisfaction from Lu's mother. She believed that Lu You was indulging in a gentle country, not wanting to make progress, and missed his future. Moreover, the two had not been able to have children for three years after their marriage. So Lu's mother forced her filial son to divorce her on the grounds that "Lu You was deeply in love and tired of studying after marriage, and missed his official career; Tang Wan was unable to have children after marriage, and missed the incense of the clan." She forced her filial son to divorce her wife. Although he was helpless, Lu You finally followed his mother's wishes and married Wang. Tang Wan was also forced to marry Zhao Shicheng, a famous scholar in Yuezhong.

This characterization has been mixed with the modern concept of monogamy, and it is certainly impossible to be objective. If it was because Tang Wan was infertile, Mother Lu would only need to marry her son another concubine, and there would be no need to force them to divorce. If it's because they are too affectionate, just keep them separated.

So, these are not reasons. I think the real reason is that Tang Wan is too talented, which makes Mother Lu deeply uneasy, because it is a woman's virtue to be without talent, and there is no virtue in women if she is talented. At the same time, Lu You and Tang Wan may have different horoscopes, which made Lu's mother determined to drive Tang Wan away.

One spring day ten years after their divorce (the 21st year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty), Shen's Garden was opened to the public. Lu You went there alone with a melancholy mood, but unexpectedly met Tang Wan and her remarried husband Zhao Shicheng. The encounter between the two touched people deep in their hearts. Tang Wan obtained Zhao Shicheng's consent and sent him food and drinks. Lu You was touched by the scene and sadly wrote on the wall, the eternal masterpiece "The Hairpin-headed Phoenix":

Red crisp hands, yellow wine, the city is full of spring scenery and willows on the palace walls. The east wind is evil and happiness is thin. Many years separated, my mind full of sorrow. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Spring is as old as ever, people are thin and empty, and the tears are red and raw. Peach blossoms fall, leisure pool pavilion. Although the mountain alliance is there, it is difficult to trust the brocade book. Mo, mo, mo!

Let me annotate this poem in my own way: You use your red and soft hands to bring me wine. Although the city is full of spring scenery now, you are as separated from me as the green willows within the palace wall. The hateful east wind blew away our joy. I have been very unhappy in the past few years after our separation, as if I was still alone. Oh, I regret it!

The scenery in spring is still the same as before, but people have become thinner because of lovesickness, and the tears shed secretly have soaked the handkerchief. The peach blossoms wither in the empty and lonely ponds and pavilions with the passing of spring. Although the eternal vows between you and me are still in my ears, it is difficult to send the love letter written in silk. Hey, forget it!

After reading this poem, Tang Wan became even more sad, and then he rhymed it with a poem called "The Hairpin-headed Phoenix·The World's Love":

The world is thin, people are evil, and flowers tend to fall when the rain comes at dusk. At dawn, the wind has dried, and there are still traces of tears. I want to write down my thoughts, but I can't speak alone. Difficult, difficult, difficult!

People are different, today is not yesterday, and the sick soul is always like a rope on a swing. The sound of the horn is cold, the night is dark, I am afraid of being asked, I swallow my tears and make up for joy. Hide it, hide it, hide it!

It should be noted: Nowadays, it is written as "Throwing tears and pretending to be happy" on the Internet, which is probably wrong. I first came into contact with this poem in 1971. It was a paper book and it was written as "Throwing tears and pretending to be happy". At that time, I was still thinking about it. I have been thinking about this word "makeup" for a long time, so I still remember it now.

I will still use my own level to annotate this poem: In the coldness of the world and the indifference of human relationships, our fate is as easy to wither as a flower beaten by the cold rain at dusk. The breeze in the morning dried up the tears that had stayed on my face all night, leaving only tear stains on my face. I wanted to write down my thoughts about you, but I couldn't (because we both already have a new home), so I could only lean on the railing and talk to myself. Talk to yourself. It’s difficult!

Now that you and I have our own homes, things are different from the past, but my thoughts are haunting me like a devil. I seemed to hear the sound of the trumpet as you fought at the front, and I was worried about you until the night was almost over. I was afraid that my current husband (Zhao Shicheng) would ask, so I had to force a smile. Alas, this is just self-deception!

Tang Wan fell ill from then on, and died in depression due to incomprehensible sorrow and resentment.

The two poems on the wall of Shen Yuan were obviously put up by later generations. Originally, there might have only been Lu You's "The Hairpin Phoenix" on the wall. Of course, it was impossible to make a poem column with mortar in advance to wait for Lu You to write the poem. It must have been in Graffiti on the bricks. But Tang Wan's harmony poem was definitely not written at that time. Judging from the level of this poem, the level is definitely not lower than that of Lu You. Even if a talented woman is really at this level, she would not dare to write such a blatant sentence as "swallow tears and make up for joy" . Therefore, I suspect that Tang Wan's "Hairheaded Phoenix" was added by later literati. But regardless of the truth, Lu You's experience is generally well documented.

Preview of the next article: I have been to many places in Zhejiang, but I didn’t take any notes at the time. Except for Shenyuan, I have some impressions of Wuzhen. Unlike Shen Yuan who lost his photos, Wuzhen has saved several photos. In the next article, let’s take a look at the true appearance of the southern water town.