Country pursuits: Nick Tyldesley looks for resonance in Chinese verse

‘Perhaps poetry is a way to understand a country that will continue to be a critical player on the world stage.’

Ni hao, huan ying!1

Traditional Chinese poetry has a long history. For 3,000 years, it has been a popular literary form – the style, rhythms and images have not altered significantly. Emperors and communists have written and enjoyed classical poetry. Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China, was trained as a teacher of Chinese literature. He wrote poems in the classical format, and in old-style calligraphy, albeit with a socialist-realist twist. Xi Jinping, the current president, is known to be widely read, including in classical texts, and has shown some admiration for Confucius. The Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu is on the national curriculum and is perhaps China’s best-known poet from the eighth-century CE.

We tend to think of modern China as polluted and overcrowded, but away from the cities the traditional rhythms of rural life still exist. This environment has inspired much classical poetry. I want to look at texts from the Tang Dynasty, which is regarded as the golden age of poetry.

These poems have a fairly strict rhyme structure, often just four lines long, with each line balanced between two halves in terms of syllables and themes. This resonates with some key features of Confucianism – that is to say a focus on order and harmony. Harmony is also emphasised by references to nature and landscapes. Poems often feature mountains (the haunts of spirits and the metaphysical); pine trees (which signify moral rectitude and a long life); and flying cranes (representing journeys, particularly homeward ones). The philosophy of Daoism also encompasses these images, as hermits sought solitude in the misty hills, finding communion with shamanistic spirits. They respected plants and animals, with the overall aim of finding ‘good Chi’, a wave of energy that creates a sense of physical and mental wellbeing. Daoism also connects with Feng Shui, the guidelines for making your home a safe and relaxing place in which to live. Waterfalls, the sound of rain on rocks and leaves, and languid lakes, are all considered suitable surroundings for reflecting on the meaning of life. Brushstroke paintings and silk scrolls illustrate these environments, and poets are often pictured writing in pavilions in imperial palace gardens.

But life in ancient China was never quite so idyllic. Warlords, civil conflict, and changes of emperors disrupted daily life. Some poets focus on the miseries of warfare, with pleas for a return to Confucian good orderliness.

So what might Quakers make of all this? Before 1661 Friends published very little verse – they spurned the ‘papist’ associations of art, music and drama. These were said to emphasise the sins of self-indulgence and lusts of the flesh. But there is some mutual connection between Tang poets and modern Friends. Both have a serious interest in meditation, a dislike of disorder and conflict, and a desire to maintain the world in harmony and balance. The style of Tang poetry approaches minimalism, with simple images underpinning complex ideas. This too might resonate with Quaker predilections for simplicity.

There are some irreconcilable issues, however. Confucianism is focused on a patriarchal, hierarchical world, with a dislike of social change. Quakers might also be suspicious of the Daoist emphasis on gods and animal spirits. Then, of course, poetic stereotypes of rural life can ignore the poverty, serf labour, lack of medical and educational facilities, and the ravages of semi-permanent wars and invasions. In the interests of trying to understand a contemporary superpower, however, it is helpful to understand the values of Chinese society. China is still rooted in traditional philosophies and a belief that education and literature have always been crucially important. European understandings of democracy and individualism are not a feature of this mindset. Changes to the Chinese worldview, at least in the short term, are unlikely.

Perhaps, then, poetry is a way in to understanding a country that will continue to be a critical player on the world stage. At very least, these examples may give Friends some interesting food for thought.2

Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain
The birds have vanished down the sky,
and now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

(by Li Bai, 701-762CE)

Brimming Water
Under my feet the moon
Glides along the river.
Near midnight, a gusty lantern
Shines in the heart of the night.
Along the sandbars flocks
Of white egrets roost,
Each one clenched like a fist.
In the wake of my barge
The fish leap, cut the water,
And dive and splash.

(by Du Fu, 712-770CE)

Looking at Mount Tai
How is Mountain Tai?
Its green is seen beyond State Qi and State Lu,
a distillation of creation’s spirit and beauty.
Its slopes split day into yin and yang.
Its rising clouds billow in my chest.
Homecoming birds fly though my my wide-open eyes.
I should climb to the summit
and in one glance see all the other mountains dwarfed.

(by Du Fu, 712-770CE)

Nick is an ecumenical friend.

1 Hello, welcome!
2 Translations from The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry (2005), edited by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping.

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