A Toast to the Moon over the River

Keywords: Life is but a Dream

I first became acquainted with Chibi through Su Shi’s poem “Nian Nu Jiao: Chibi Huai Gu”.

When I was young, there was a large living room in my house with a hanging scroll on the wall. On the left side of the scroll, there was a piece of calligraphy titled “Nian Nu Jiao: Chibi Huai Gu”, but its content was different from the version we later learned in school.

The mighty river flows eastward, waves eroding all, showcasing the fame and romance of a thousand years. On the west side of the old fortress lies the Red Cliff, where Zhou Yu, the hero of the Three Kingdoms, commanded. Crumbling rocks pierce through the clouds, tumultuous waves crack the riverbank, swirling up piles of snow. The landscape is picturesque and filled with countless heroes.

Since I can remember, it has been hanging beside the hanging scroll in our living room. However, at that time, I was just a child, obsessed with the cicadas in summer, the roses after rain, the swaying tree shadows in the evening, the secretly harvested figs… and also comic books and Ultraman monster cards.

Until one day, I somehow became interested in it. Maybe it was because of its yellowed paper, or maybe I started to appreciate the beauty of the seal script font, or maybe I simply thought I should take a look at it.

So, I read it sentence by sentence. The seal script font was not difficult to recognize, although there were a few traditional Chinese characters. But when I was a child, my grandfather had written notes in traditional characters, we had traditional Chinese couplets during the Spring Festival, and my father also practiced writing traditional characters. So, it wasn’t that difficult for me to read it.

After reading the first sentence, I felt that it had a great artistic conception. Although there were no punctuation marks, the intonation seemed to be correct. After reading it, I felt a sense of grandeur and really liked it, liked the crumbling rocks that pierced through the clouds, liked the tumultuous waves that cracked the riverbank, liked the picturesque landscape.

At that time, my memory was also good, so I found it melodious and could recite it after just a few readings.

But although I could grasp some meaning from it, in order to better understand what it was about and who wrote it, I asked my father to explain. I can’t remember exactly what my father said, but I do remember that it was written by Su Shi, and this poem had a second half, and he wrote many other poems. He was a famous poet of the Northern Song Dynasty.

At that time, whether he was famous or not didn’t matter to me. I cared about the fact that his writing was excellent and I wanted to know what was written in the second half.

I wanted to rummage through my father’s bookshelf, but I was afraid he would scold me for making a mess. So, I put that thought aside and planned to search when my father wasn’t at home.

Then I sat on a small stool and carefully savored the first half. A child’s thoughts are simple, and I didn’t understand exaggerated rhetorical devices. I just thought, “Wow, the river at Chibi is so powerful that the big waves can crash the rocks up to the clouds. They’re so high that they can break the riverbanks. How did people live there? But just imagining that scene in my mind, I felt it was very impactful and shocking…”

It was this poem that opened a door for me and made me realize that my father’s books with no pictures but only words might also be interesting. My colorful comic books and Ultraman cards might not be more appealing than them after all.

Now, looking back, if there hadn’t been this piece of calligraphy next to the hanging scroll, or if it was another poem that I couldn’t understand, would I still be the person I am now? Would there be other opportunities for me to discover my father’s books with no pictures but only words?

I don’t know, and there are no “ifs.”

Life is but a dream, while toasting the moon over the river.

END