Chapter 43 Seven Wonders·Watching the Tide

Thousands of miles of waves are rolling in, and snowflakes are flying towards Diaoyutai. . This poem was first published in the sixth issue of "Party Documents" in 1993. The Qiantang River tide has been admired by people for its magnificence since ancient times, and has been chanted by many poets.Pan Lang's "Jiuquanzi" in the Song Dynasty described this grand occasion: Long memory of watching the tide, the people of Manguo are fighting to watch the river.Come to doubt that the sea is empty, and the sound of drums on thousands of faces.The tide-gatherers stand facing the waves, holding the red flags in their hands to keep them from getting wet.Don't come to look at the dream, the dream is still chilling.

The deterrent power brought by the tide is vividly described in the words. Confucius said: A wise man enjoys water.Mao Zedong's poems often describe the forms of water in various natural environments.These waters are rarely calm and soothing, but more often they are surging and full of pride.In Mao Zedong's pen, water is undoubtedly a symbol of strength.The invincible power of the great rivers and seas is exactly in line with the spiritual temperament of a generation of great men. Let's see what the Qiantang River tide looked like in Mao Zedong's works. "Thousands of miles of waves are rolling", straight to the point, you can see at a glance that what the poet wants to chant is not an ordinary scene. The word "rolling" depicts the overwhelming momentum of the tide.You know, the sound of the Qiantang tide has always been breathtaking.In "Jiuquanzi" by Pan Lang quoted earlier, it is said that "in the sound of thousands of drums", the sound of the tide is like the sound of thousands of drums; When the tide comes, "it sounds like the sound of landslides and landslides in my ears"; in the book, it is said that before Lu Zhishen passed away, he met the Qiantang tide, "Guanxi men have never saved Zhejiang Chaoxin, but they only said that it was the sound of war drums, and the thieves were born and jumped up. , touched the Zen staff, and snatched it out while drinking."Even a hero like Lu Zhishen was still shocked when he heard the sound of the tide. It can be seen that the sound of the tide is beyond imagination.The excellent descriptions of the tides of the Qianjiang River listed above coincidentally all start from the loud voice of the tides, and Mao Zedong's poem is the same.Only one thing is written in the first seven characters: the tide is coming.Qijue is only twenty-eight characters long, this method seems a bit extravagant, but in fact, this simple and straightforward method has a rare intuitive and natural beauty, without the slightest euphemistic twists and turns, but straight to the head , just like the tide of Qiantang, rushing towards the face, unstoppable.

"Snowflakes fly to Diaoyutai", there is a metaphor in this sentence, saying that the tide rushes like snowflakes and rushes all the way to Diaoyutai.The word "fly" is particularly expressive.If it is written as "piao", then the momentum is not enough, and if it is used as "ben", it has momentum, but it still feels that it is not flying enough, and it does not fit the metaphor of "snowflake".It is "flying to" instead of "flying to" or "flying to", which makes the dynamic in the sentence a step further, and it looks lively.

The Diaoyutai here refers to the famous Yan Ziling Diaoyutai on the Fuchun River.Fuchun River is another name for the middle section of Qiantang River.Yan Ziling was a character in the early Eastern Han Dynasty. His real name was Zhuang Zun, and he was born in Yuyao, Kuaiji. Because he avoided the taboo of Emperor Liu Zhuang of Ming Dynasty, later generations called him Yan Zun, and his name was Yan Guang. Ziling was his surname.According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", he was a well-known talented and learned hermit at that time. He was very famous when he was young. He once traveled and studied with Liu Xiu, the later Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty.When Liu Xiu came to the throne, he immediately changed his surname and name, and lived in seclusion.Liu Xiu also found him and asked him to become an official in every possible way, but he always held the nobility of a hermit, even if he was given the important position of advising a doctor, he would not be moved. He would rather live in seclusion in the Fuchun Mountains and enjoy fishing.Since then, Yan Ziling Diaotai has become a symbol of the noble character of a sage who lives in seclusion.Mao Zedong mentioned Yan Ziling Diaoyutai in this poem, not only because Diaoyutai is also a scenic spot on the Qiantang River, but also because Diaoyutai was originally located in the middle section of Qiantang River. Rhetorical exaggeration.At the same time, because the Diaoyutai is a symbol of the hermit, it represents "quietness", while the snowflake-like tide flying towards the Diaoyutai represents "movement". Movement and stillness appear in the same poem. The combination forms a wonderfully strong tension.

Poetry often talks about inheritance and transformation. When the third sentence of this poem is reached, the style of writing suddenly changes.I was writing about the tide before, but now I suddenly start writing about the people who watch the tide.If you don't write about the number of people watching the tide, you can't highlight the status of Qianjiang Chaojing as a scenic spot. "Mountain of people praised the wide lineup", the word "mountain of people" is reminiscent of the situation of crowds of people vying to watch, and the meaning is close to "Manchurians vying to look at the river".It is also a common way to describe scenery in poems by using the technique of setting off the side to write tides to attract people's praise, and to turn the indescribable beauty into the imaginable reaction of everyone.

The last sentence "the iron horse calmly kills the enemy and returns" re-writes the scene of the tide.What is said in the poem is "return after killing the enemy", which very aptly describes the scene where the Qiantang River, which was originally rushing all the way to the sea, suddenly rushed back from the sea.This is still a metaphor, but it is completely different from the second sentence "snowflakes fly to Diaoyutai".If there is still some warmth in the image of "snowflake" in the second sentence, it is "iron horse" and "killing the enemy" in this sentence, and the killing spirit contained in it is aggressive. "Snowflake" is a metaphor for Chaoshui, and the last sentence is a metaphor for momentum.Because momentum is elusive, using "the iron horse calmly kills the enemy back" to concretize it can really be said to grasp the key point.

When describing the tide in Qiantang, the predecessors often used the metaphor of war drums, and the war drums are new trumpets when they go out to war.But in Mao Zedong's pen, the Qiantang River's aura is not the murderous aura of the first time on the battlefield-if that is the case, it will inevitably be superficial-but "calm".This sentence is better than calmness, and this poem is better than calmness.Kill the enemy back, so you can be calm, calm, confident, and everything is under control.This kind of calmness is more formidable than a head-on confrontation on the battlefield.

The beauty of this poem lies in the alternate appearance of statements and metaphors, the combination of fiction and reality, and the mutual growth of fiction and reality. "Thousands of miles of waves are rolling" is true, "snowflakes fly to the Diaoyutai" is false, "people praise the broad lineup" is true, and "the iron horse calmly kills the enemy" is false.This staggered writing method makes the magnificence of the tide scene not too monotonous in the poem.In a short quatrain, the false and the real appear alternately, and they are completely natural, without any trace of chiseling.