A moonlit Tang banquet beside Qujiang Pool, wine cups and lanterns reflected in still water.

Tang Dynasty618–907 CEAdvancedPro中文PinyinHSK 3.0

The Qujiang Poetry Banquet

曲江宴Qū Jiāng Yàn

Trade a line of verse with Li Bai — and find out how much of your Chinese survives wine.

The scene

The examinations have been passed and the new graduates are celebrating by the water. Wine is going round, poems are being composed on the spot, and the loudest man here has just decided that you are his new drinking companion.

What you will be able to do

Describe a scene so someone else can picture it
Use classical poetic vocabulary for moon, wine and home
Hold a literary conversation without dropping into English

Who you will be talking to

1 character

Portrait of the poet Li Bai in a windswept white robe, wine cup raised, beneath a moonlit sky.

李白

Lǐ Bái

Poet of the High Tang · in his early forties

Born far to the west, near Suyab, he has been travelling since he was a boy and writing the whole way. He was briefly at court in Chang'an, found it unbearable, and left. He is generous with his wine and his verse and disastrous with his money.

exuberantrecklessgenerousmelancholy at the edges

来来来！一个人喝酒最没意思。你叫什么名字？
Lái lái lái! Yí ge rén hē jiǔ zuì méi yìsi. Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
Come, come! Drinking alone is the dullest thing there is. What is your name?

Words you will use

8 · Pinyin and HSK 3.0

月亮yuè liang
the moonnounHSK 3
酒jiǔ
wine; liquornounHSK 2
朋友péng you
friendnounHSK 1
诗shī
poem; poetrynounHSK 4
举杯jǔ bēi
to raise one's cupverbHSK 5
Literally: lift + cup
故乡gù xiāng
one's native place; hometownnounHSK 4
Literally: old + village
醉zuì
drunkadjectiveHSK 4
写xiě
to writeverbHSK 2

What is going on here

3 culture notes

Custom

Where careers were celebrated

Qujiang Pool lay in the southeast of Chang'an. After the examination results were posted, successful candidates gathered here for the 曲江宴 — a banquet paid for by the graduates themselves, and an occasion for the whole city to watch them.

History

Poetry as an exam subject

The imperial examinations tested 律诗 regulated verse — fixed line length, fixed rhyme, fixed tonal pattern. Writing a good poem was not an accomplishment for a Tang official. It was a job requirement.

HistorySurprising

The poet who could not keep a job

Li Bai was summoned to the Hanlin Academy in 742 and dismissed within two years for drinking and indiscretion. He spent his last years travelling, and died in 762. The legend that he drowned reaching for the moon is almost certainly not true — but it is the death he would have chosen.

The scripted path

1 authored dialogue

A Line of Your Own

Drink with Li Bai at the Qujiang banquet, describe the night until he can see it, and risk a line of verse of your own.

11 turns · ~20 min

Them
来来来，坐我这边！你看——今夜曲江的月亮，像一只银盘一样浮在水面上。这样的夜晚，一个人举杯太没意思了。水上的月光，你看得清吗？
Lái lái lái, zuò wǒ zhè biān! Nǐ kàn — jīn yè Qūjiāng de yuèliang, xiàng yì zhī yín pán yíyàng fú zài shuǐmiàn shàng. Zhèyàng de yèwǎn, yí ge rén jǔ bēi tài méi yìsi le. Shuǐ shàng de yuèguāng, nǐ kàn de qīng ma?
Come, come, sit here by me! Look — tonight the moon over Qujiang floats on the water like a silver plate. On a night like this, lifting a cup alone is a waste. Can you see the moonlight on the water clearly?
You
月光落在水上，像碎银子一样，风一吹就散开。
Yuèguāng luò zài shuǐ shàng, xiàng suì yínzi yíyàng, fēng yì chuī jiù sàn kāi.
The moonlight falls on the water like broken silver — one breath of wind and it comes apart.
Them
哈哈，你又说对了一句！来，再喝——今夜酒还够，夜还长。能陪我谈月亮的，都是朋友。你听，柳树下还有人在唱，这满池的水声，你会怎么形容？
Hāhā, nǐ yòu shuō duì le yí jù! Lái, zài hē — jīn yè jiǔ hái gòu, yè hái cháng. Néng péi wǒ tán yuèliang de, dōu shì péngyou. Nǐ tīng, liǔshù xià hái yǒu rén zài chàng, zhè mǎn chí de shuǐshēng, nǐ huì zěnme xíngróng?
Ha! You've hit it again. Come, drink — there's wine enough tonight and the night is long. Anyone who will talk about the moon with me is a friend. Listen: someone is still singing under the willows. How would you put the sound of all that water into words?
You
风把柳枝吹到水面上，笑声和水声就分不清了。
Fēng bǎ liǔzhī chuī dào shuǐmiàn shàng, xiàoshēng hé shuǐshēng jiù fēn bu qīng le.
The wind carries the willow branches down onto the water — after that the laughter and the water blur into one sound.
7 more turns, with grammar notes attached to the line where each one matters.