● 陈晴山 Chen Qing-shan  陈敏华 Michael Tan  陈敏良 Peter Chen

引言

　　这首诗是《荔子情》专栏里特载了家父三首古体诗之最后一首，
《荔子情》也就以此诗结束。《荔子情》发刊于六个月前，第一篇文
章是《在怀念中的故乡》，登载于今年5月20日。这专栏曾经把晴山
诸多著作中选出了15篇作品，其中有随笔、短文、家书和古体诗。这
当然并非包括了他的全部著作，其中例如论文及剧本，就没有刊出。

　　现在以这首古诗作本栏的结束，倒是适合不过了，因为家父生前
热爱古诗，而且更特别的是，这首古诗又是他生前所写的最后一首遗
稿。他是于1960年6月6日逝世，这首《闻云南园雅集有感，寄列座诸
君子》古诗刊登时，他已不在人世了。当我们获得此诗时，家父经已
离世三个月有余，他自己并没有亲眼看到此诗的付印。

　　今天，如果家父还在人间，看到自己的作品，发表在《荔子情》
，让一般素未谋面的读者们一同分享他在这些古诗里的感触和抒情乐
趣，一定会觉得万分高兴。

　　现在我们试以有限的学力和微不足道的努力，希望能够借此而帮
助读者诸君，对家父的作品能更深一层去欣赏，让这些难解的古诗，
不致于像那些宝贵的周鼎和商彝，家父常叹曰：“周鼎商彝，常常只
被人‘珍藏’，而鲜被人真正地去‘欣赏’，实为可惜”。

Opening Remarks

　　This is the 3rd and last of the three classical poems by
our father Chen Qing-shan to be featured in Lizi Qing. With 
this we conclude the column, which began six months ago with
his essay on his feelings about his native land (''My Native
Land for whom I yearn'' featured on 20 May 1998). The 15 
selections from Qing-shan's literary works that have 
appeared in Lizi Qing included essays, short stories, family
letters and classical poems. They do not represent a 
complete cross section of his works. The two areas that have
not been included are discourse and plays.

　　 It is appropriate that we conclude the column with a 
classical poem and with this poem, because classical poetry 
is Qing-shan's first love and this particular poem is 
perhaps one of his last compositions before he died on 6 
June 1960. It was not until some time after his death that 
the publication in which the poem appeared was printed and a
copy given to our family. Our father never saw this poem in 
print.

　　If he were still with us today, he would surely be 
pleased to see its appearance in Lizi Qing so that he could 
share his feelings and his joy of expression in classical 
poetry with readers whom he had never known and who have 
never known him. With our limited skill and modest effort, 
we hope to have helped to enhance a little the readers' 
enjoyment of his works, so that these classical poems are 
(in father's own words) more than the Zhou and Shang bronze 
ware which would otherwise be revered rather than enjoyed.


1. 月令犹存觞咏中　Our literary heritage is preserved 
through wine and song.

2. 扶持大雅仗诸公　Guardians of the Book of Poetry are 
you noble Sirs !

3. 催诗岂待今宵雨　Why urge this new friend for such a 
song ?

4. 修禊遥追六代风　To exorcise evil, you can learn from 
our distant ancient past.

5. 石焰惊天呈浩劫　Fiery stone explodes across the sky, 
calamity has befallen us.

6. 金声掷地振群聋　Our clarion call reverberates the 
earth, even the deaf shall hear.

7. 祖龙休拨坑灰火　Emperor Qin, desist ! Burn not the 
books, bury no more scholars !

8. 吾道长城有学宫　Mighty as the Great Wall is our cause, 
the Hall of Learning stands.

9. 雅集兰亭迹已陈　Although the Gathering at Orchid 
Pavilion is a day long gone,

10. 临池犹写永和春　By the lake, we'll write the song of 
"Yonghe Spring" yet once more.

11 .当年佳话千秋在　The lovely words of that bygone year 
will live a thousand years.

12. 此日清游百感新　You roam the scene again today with a 
hundred new thoughts.

13. 曲水觞流惟饮泪　But the flowing wine cups you drink are 
filled with bitter tears;

14. 茂林斧过尽为薪　Once lush forests, swept by the axe, 
become mere wood to burn.

15. 不堪重忆山阴道　It's painful to retrace the path to the
Orchid Pavilion today ;

16. 道上难逢薄醉人　For you'll meet no one who feels not 
the same sorrowful way.


古诗背景及词品

　　《晴山诗集》里一共收集了51首诗词，其中这首《闻云南园雅集
有感》特别引起了我们兄弟两人莫大的兴趣，但同时也使我们感到棘
手，觉得这首诗较难译成白话，何况又要加以英译呢！

　　这首诗很可能是家父逝世前所作的最后一首遗诗，家父是于1960
年6月去世的。这首诗发表于同年7月以后，当年南洋大学中国文学研
究会为收集新旧中国古典诗词而编辑《云南园吟唱集》。我们收到此
集子时，家父已经去世数月，因此他从未亲眼看到此诗之发表。

　　此诗写明《寄列座诸君子》，这列座诸君，即指当年新加坡南洋
大学中国语言文学系的诸教授学生，故此诗的水平，就不比寻常了，
诗中之暗喻、典故，都有很高的文学造诣。岂知38年后之今日，仍然
深奥难解，使我们兄弟两人，费了“九牛二虎”之力，方能解读诗意
之皮毛。

　　1949年，共产党接管中国大陆不久后，南洋大学创立，旨在提供
新马两地每年大批的华校毕业生一个深造的机会，不然，这些华校生
就得远赴港台继续接受大学教育。南大遂成为海外中华文化教育中心。

　　南大创立后，于1960年3月30日举办为期一个星期的“大学周”
，其中并于4月2日庆祝首届毕业典礼而举行集会，并出版《云南园吟
唱集》，以资纪念。这首诗就是为此而写。

　　最近我们曾和当年该吟唱集主编黄应良先生见面，黄先生乃当年
大四学生，他还记得大部分的诗稿是在集会后才收到，故诗集的出版
付印，要等到7月后才能完成。

　　所谓“修禊”，乃中国古代的风俗，每年农历3月3日，古人会结
群，同到郊野有池水的地方，在那儿野宴、采兰，表示除去一切不祥
污秽（其实阳历1960年4月2日举办南大周时，正是阴历3月7日）。
1600年前，大书法家王羲之（公元303-361）就曾在兰亭与一班文士
知交聚会于此。

　　家父把南大大学周之集会比喻作修禊（诗第九句），是对南大诸
师生之无上敬意。

　　这首诗除了提醒南大中国文学学者们，勿忘南大创立宗旨——维
持中华文化，曰：“扶持大雅仗诸公”（诗第2行），鼓励他们不要
向恶势力低头，曰：“吾道长城有学宫”（诗第8行），这正是一股
强而有力的挑战口号。谁是那恶势力呢？答案就在诗中第5行里，曰
：“石焰惊天呈浩劫。”这诗是1960年写的，正是指责大陆当年如火
如荼进行“大整风”的浩劫。家父一生热爱中华文学，如今亲眼看到
大整风运动把4000年中华灿烂文化摧残了，如何不痛心？！故而大声
喊出：“祖龙休拨坑灰火”（诗第7行）。“祖龙”是秦始皇的别称
，这儿当然是指桑骂槐，虽然表面上指责的是秦始皇，但真正的目标
乃是那摧残中华文化界，大整风的指使人毛泽东。

　　老实说，好几年来，我们都没法十分了解此诗隐藏的背景，大概
是两年前吧，我们还正在思考此诗中第14行“茂林斧过尽为薪”一句
，如果是直译即“利斧把森林砍了，森林就变成薪木”，我们当初以
为这句的暗喻是说，正如大学教育一般能把一个无学的人，教育成有
用的社会栋梁，正巧南大校址，本来就是一片茂盛胶园，而现今宏立
了一所大学，不正是说得极合适，也不就是“茂林斧过尽为薪”吗？

　　后来，我们得知潘受博士不但是中国古文学学者，而且和南大建
校有密切的关系，我们把这首诗请教于他，本来嘛，我们是很得意，
满以为已经成功地解读了这句子的暗喻，但潘博士一看就惊讶地说：
“令尊在此诗中所云，有更深奥暗喻呀！”这使我们顿时觉得意外，
潘博士继而解说，这句子还可能有悲痛的弦外之音呢！“令尊是在指
责50年代在大陆发生了对文化界迫害的大整风、大跃进、人民公社和
所谓全国工业化之失败。我们才知道原来这首诗里，还隐藏了另外更
加深奥的双重暗喻，不但指责大陆当局摧残了中国文化的丰富传统，
使之消灭无踪，还指责因“工业大跃进”、“家家土法冶钢”所消耗
，浪费了无数森林，以致广泛地破坏了宝贵的园林生态之结果。

　　潘博士对这句的解读，比我们原来的更加值得注意。这喑喻不但
是双重，更是四重暗喻！我们马上把这句子译为“茂盛的森林（中国
文化）一旦被那可恶的利斧（毛泽东）削砍了（迫害），早已变成残
薪炭灰（摧残无整）”。

　　以诗的感情说来，作者在这诗中，充分地表现了刚忿、软忧、两
种交错的复杂感情，前者是“横眉指责”，曰：“祖龙休拔坑灰火，
吾道长城有学宫！”后者则忧伤地，俯首兴叹在大整风下牺牲的那些
文学同好而曰：“不堪重忆山阴道，道上难逢薄醉人”

　　50年代南大建校，在新马各地曾有过诸多为南大建校筹款义卖之
运动，千千万万的华人上自富有的商贾，下至贫穷的人力车夫，人人
慷慨地义解私囊。家母王义宋主办的妇女裁剪学院也曾举办服装义卖
，把所得全部捐赠作南大建校基金，除了这细微间接的关系外，家父
和南大并无任何特别关系，家父和南大诸学者，也只是神交，并未谋
面，而又如何被特别邀请写诗？“催诗岂待今宵雨（新交朋友）？”
，我们也不得而知，可能是家父长年来，在报上发表诗词，而被南大
诸君看重了吧。

　　新加坡文学界名人及作家方修先生，先后于70年代及80年代所著
的文学评论里曾赞扬家父的诸作品，方修先生和家父，从未谋面，也
互不认识，由此可见一个人之成名也可由他的著作而决定的。 

Background and Appreciation

　　There are 51 poems in the ''Anthology of Qing-shan's 
Poems ''(晴山诗集). Among them, ''Yunnan Garden Gathering 
of the Literati'' (云南园雅集) was the poem that 
particularly interested us. We found this poem the most 
difficult to understand and to paraphrase into modern 
Chinese. It became even more challenging when we tried to 
translate it into English. This poem was probably one of 
the very last poems father composed before he passed away in
June 1960. The poem was published sometime after July 1960 
in a collection of Chinese classical poems put together by 
the Chinese Literary Society of Nanyang University (南洋大学
中国文学研究会). The publication was titled ''Yunnan Garden
Anthology of Poems'' (云南园吟唱集). By the time our family
received a complimentary copy, it was already sometime after
his death. Father therefore never saw this poem of his in
print.

　　The poem was clearly ''Addressed to the Assembly of 
Scholars." This assembly of scholars refers to the 
professors and students of Chinese language and literature 
at Nantah. This poem would be expected to be of an 
unusually high literary standard. The sophisticated use of 
metaphors, idioms and allusions in the poem is superb. Thus 
even some 38 years later, they prove challenging to 
interpret. With great effort, we were able to begin to 
understand the hidden meanings. It was with an untold amount
of hardwork, as the Chinese would say ''the energy of nine 
bullocks and two tigers''（ 九牛二虎之力）, that we two 
brothers manage to merely scratch the surface of the rich 
lode of hidden messages beneath. 

　　As is well known, not long after the Communists took 
over Mainland China in 1949, Nantah was founded to cater for
the large numbers of Chinese high school students graduating
each year in Malaya and Singapore who would otherwise have 
to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong for their tertiary education in
Chinese. Nantah thus became an overseas centre of learning 
for Chinese studies and culture.

　　The poem was written for the publication ''Yunnan Garden
Anthology of Poems'' (云南园吟唱集) in connection with the 
University Week(大学周) which began on 30th March 1960, as 
part of the celebration of the First convocation of Nantah 
held on 2nd April 1960. We met the editor Mr Huang Ying 
Liang(黄应良) recently. He was then a final year student at
Nantah and he remembered that most of the poems were 
received only after the convocation, which explains why the 
publication was ready only in July 1960, several months 
after the exhibition. 

　　In writing this poem for the Chinese scholars of Nantah 
for their special literary gathering, father referred to 
their gathering as xiu xi (修禊). It was an ancient 
tradition in China for people to go for an outing by the 
water, during the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar calendar month, 
where they would enjoy themselves at a picnic, pluck 
orchids, and to rid themselves of any bad luck. (The day of
Nantah s first convocation ceremony 2nd April 1960 fell on 
the 7th day of the 3rd lunar calendar month). It was at 
such an outing some 1,600 years ago that the famous 
calligrapher Wang Xi Zi (王羲之303-361 A.D.) once gathered 
his literary friends at the Orchid Pavilion (Lan Ting兰亭). 
By alluding to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering of the 
Literati (兰亭雅集 in line 9) , father showed great respect 
to the scholars gathered at Nantah. 

　　The poem reminded them not to forget the founding 
purpose of the university, which was the preservation of 
Chinese culture,''Guardians of the Book of Poetry are you 
noble Sirs!'' says the poem (line 2). The righteous call to
the scholars to stand firm in the face of the evil forces is
echoed in the line ''Mighty as the Great Wall is our cause, 
the Hall of Learning stands'' (line 8). These are powerful 
words of defiance, but what are these evil forces? The 
answer can be found in (line 5) ''Fiery stone explodes 
across the sky, calamity has befallen us.'' These words 
were written in 1960 and the calamity that had befallen 
Mainland China was the persecution of the scholars, referred
to as Da Zheng Feng (大整风). Father fiercely loved 
Chinese literature throughout his whole life. His heart was
saddened when he learned of the damage that Da Zheng Feng 
had done to the Chinese culture of four thousand years. That
was why in his poem he cried out, ''Emperor Qin, desist! 
Burn not the books, bury no more scholars!'' (line 7). 
This is like the Chinese saying: ''Point to the mulberry to
revile the locust tree ''(指桑骂槐). Whilst the finger is 
pointed at Emperor Qin, the real object of the rebuke was 
actually Mao Zedong who was ultimately responsible for the 
Da Zheng Feng movement against the scholars in Mainland 
China.

　　We must confess that for many years, we were not able to
see the hidden meaning of the poem. Two years ago, we were 
rather intrigued by the line “茂林斧过尽为薪” (line 14) .
Literally, it means: Lush forests, swept by the axe, 
completely transformed into firewood . We thought this was a
very clever pun because firstly it means that a person 
without education is transformed through learning into 
someone useful, as befitting a university. Secondly, Nantah
stood on land that was once covered by a rubber estate which
had now been cleared to build the university. 

　　As Dr Pan Shou is closely linked with the early history 
of Nantah and steeped in classical learning, we showed him 
this line one day, feeling rather pleased with ourselves 
with our discovery of this clever double meaning. He took 
one look at it and exclaimed, ''Your father is saying more 
than that!'' We were astonished and he pointed out that the
line also has another meaning in a more tragic context. He 
said, ''Your father is referring to the Da Zheng Feng 
movement persecution of the literati in Mainland China in 
the 1950's. This was followed by the Great Leap Forward, 
the collectivisation movement and the failed attempt to 
promote (backyard) industrial production.'' We then realised
that there was yet another set of double meaning. Firstly, 
the rich literary heritage of China was being destroyed and 
would become no more worth than the paper they are printed 
on. Secondly, the attempt to industrialise through the 
proliferation of backyard foundries to produce iron caused 
forests to be cut down as fuel for the furnaces and this led
to widespread deforestation. This particular line in the 
poem was even more remarkable than we had thought! It was 
not just double meaning, but quadruple meaning! We at once 
re-translated the line to ''Once lush forests, swept by 
the axe, become mere wood to burn.''

　　As for the poet's feelings, we can sense that he was 
exhibiting two sets of conflicting feelings: firm and angry,
soft and sad. First, he angrily raised his thick eyebrows (
横眉), pointing his finger and ordered, ''Emperor Qin, 
desist! Burn no more books; bury no more scholars. Mighty 
as the Great Wall is our cause; the Hall of Learning 
stands.'' Then lowering his head (俯首) , he sadly sighed, 
''It's painful to retrace the path to the Orchid Pavilion 
today; For you'll meet no one who feels not the same 
sorrowful way.''

　　During Nantah's fund raising campaign throughout 
Singapore and peninsula Malaya in the 1950's, thousands of 
ordinary Chinese, from the wealthy businessmen to the poor 
trishaw riders contributed generously. Our mother's 
tailoring school held a charity sale of clothing and the 
proceeds were donated to Nantah's building fund. Apart 
from this very remote connection, father actually had no 
other connection with Nantah. Although he was probably 
familiar with the names of the many scholars at Nantah he 
would not have met or known them personally. It was a 
surprise to us that he was invited to compose a poem for the
occasion, which was why he wrote the line in the poem ''Why
urge this new friend for such a song?'' (line 3). Perhaps 
it was because father often published his poems in the 
newspapers that he became known through his literary works.

　　 The Singapore writer and literary critic Fang Xiu ( 方
修) had, through his literary critiques in the 1970's and 
1980's, praised father's works although they had never known
or met each other. Indeed, a man can be just as well known 
by the reputation of his works.


End Notes:(O/T=Original Text)

　　L3: new friend: O/T今宵雨jin xiao yu, literally"new (or 
this) evening's rain. Original expression今雨jin yu is from 
a story about the Tang poet杜甫Dufu who once lay ill and 
impoverished in the capital Chang-an for a considerable 
length of time. He lamented of those who visited him,"The 
old friends, they come even when it pours; the new friends, 
they come not when it rains,"（常时车马之客，旧，雨来，今，
雨不来。）The expression今雨is now used as a metaphor for 
"new acquaintance".The extra word 宵 is added here to 
complete the line of 7 words.

　　L16: you'll meet no one who feels not the same sorrowful
way: O/T难逢薄醉人nan feng bo zui ren literally "difficult 
to meet someone who is only mildly drunk".The corollary of 
this is that you will only meet people who are very sad and 
have therefore drowned their own sorrow by being completely 
drunk.