ChineseStudy

7. Tune: Drunken Drooping Whip (Zhang Xian)

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English translation

She wears a gauze skirt embroidered with paired butterflies, first seen at a banquet by the eastern pond. Her rouge and powder are lightly applied, giving her the understated freshness of an unassuming spring flower.

Look closely, and every feature pleases; everyone praises the graceful curve of her willow-like waist. Yesterday, the hills were dim at parting; when she arrives today, it is as though clouds from those mountains still cling to her clothes.

词句注释 · Notes

上片 · First stanza

上片以“双蝶”点出衣裙细节，再写宴席初见。妆容“不深匀”不是缺少修饰，而是淡妆的自然；“闲花”将人物置于轻柔、不争艳的春意中。

The paired butterflies give a precise detail of her clothing before the scene of their first meeting. “Not heavily applied” suggests natural, light makeup rather than neglect, and the flower image gives her a quiet spring presence.

下片 · Second stanza

下片先写众人对她身姿的赞赏，再以“昨日”与“来时”构成离合转换。末句的“衣上云”带有想象色彩，把山中云气化作人物身上的余韵，不必当作实景记述。

The stanza moves from the company’s praise of her figure to a contrast between yesterday’s parting and today’s arrival. “Clouds on her clothes” is an imaginative afterimage of the mountains, not necessarily a literal report.

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