Interpretation of Jiang Xue by Liu Zongyuan

Hundreds of mountains have no birds, and thousands of paths have no footprints.

A boat on the river, a fisherman in his webworm moth; Fishing alone is not afraid of snow and ice.

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① No trace of people: No trace of people.

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Liu Zongyuan (AD 773- AD 8 19) was a writer, philosopher, essayist and thinker in the Tang Dynasty. Born in an official family in the capital Chang 'an, Yuncheng, Shanxi, they are called Mr. Liu Hedong and Mr. Hedong. Liu Liuzhou, also known as Liu Liuzhou and Liu Yuxi, was the official secretariat of Liuzhou. Liu Zongyuan has few talents and early ambitions. In the ninth year of Zhenyuan (AD 793), he was a scholar, and in the fourteenth year, he entered the learned poetry class and was awarded the orthography of Jixian Hall. He was a lieutenant in Lantian, then became an official in the DPRK, actively participated in the political reform of Wang Group, and was transferred to Danielle as foreign minister. In September of Yongzhenyuan (AD 805), the innovation failed, and Shaozhou was relegated to the secretariat. In November, Sima Yongzhou (now Lingling District, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province) was demoted. Together with Han Yu, he advocated the ancient prose movement in Tang Dynasty and called it "Liu Han". Also known as "Liu Liu" with Liu Yuxi. Also known as "Wang Meng" with Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Wei. With Han Yu, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong in the Tang Dynasty, they are also called "the eight great masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties" (Liu Zongyuan is the second of the eight great masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties). His achievements are more than poetry. His essays and argumentations are sharp, sarcastic and spicy, and more entrusted. Most of his poems express depression, grief, homesickness and friendship, with deep feelings and unique ways.

This poem was written during the poet's exile in Yongzhou (now Lingling, Hunan). Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Yongzhou, and his spirit was greatly depressed. So, he sent his feelings to the mountains and rivers and sang in seclusion. Through the fisherman between mountains and rivers, he pinned his lofty and aloof pride and expressed his anguish and distress in political frustration. In the poem, the poet outlines a quiet and lonely environment where birds fly and people disappear.

For such an environment, the poet used Qian Shan's panoramic view to render it, filled it with vast and boundless space, and brought that silence and sadness to the extreme. In this background, only a fisherman in the river wears a hat and hemp fiber and fishes quietly in the boat. The word "cold Jiang Xue" is the finishing touch, which not only adds plain color to the whole picture, but also organically combines the isolated mountains, paths and people in front. In front of the poet, he didn't explain why birds and people disappeared, but he hit the nail on the head here. I saw snow flying all over the sky, and mountains, trees, roads and rivers were all wrapped in silver and clean. At this time, fishing in the cold river, not afraid of cold, not afraid of snow, seems to have been carried away. However, it is such a lonely old man who stands out in this background. Isn't this lofty and aloof fisherman's image the sustenance and portrayal of Liu Zongyuan's own thoughts and feelings? How much the poet wishes to enter the fisherman's spiritual realm of being carefree, quiet and refined, stubborn and persistent, and optimistic. The poet shows a detached heart instead of describing a picture of fishing in a cold river. Several crosses contain too much content, high artistic conception and endless aftertaste.