Outstanding person: a hero among people. Emperor Gaozu once praised the founding heroes Sean, Xiao He and Han Xin as "outstanding figures".
Summer quatrains
Li Qingzhao
Living as an outstanding person,
Death is also a ghost.
I still miss Xiang Yu,
More important than crossing the river by boat
[Notes]
1. Outstanding people: heroes among people. Emperor Gaozu once praised the founding heroes Sean, Xiao He and Han Xin as "outstanding figures".
2. Ghost hero: the hero in the ghost. Qu Yuan's "Mourning for the Country": "The body dies, the spirit is the spirit, and the soul is the ghost hero."
3. Xiang Yu (232 BC-202 BC): He was born in the late Qin Dynasty (now Suqian, Jiangsu). He led the rebel army to destroy the main force of Qin Jun and became the overlord of the place of Chu. Later defeated by Liu Bang, he broke through Wujiang River (now Hexian County, Anhui Province) and committed suicide.
[Modern Translation]
Living in a crowd like a hero,
Death should also be a hero among ghosts.
People still miss Xiang Yu,
Because he refused to drag out an ignoble existence and refused to return to Jiangdong.
[explanation]
This poem clearly puts forward the value orientation of life: people should be heroes in life and make contributions to the country; Even if you die, you have to die for your country and become a hero in ghosts. Patriotic passion was beyond words, which really inspired people at that time. However, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty ignored the lives of the people and just ran for their lives. Abandon the rivers and mountains of the Central Plains and beg for a living. Then, the poet remembered Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu broke through Wujiang River, and the director of Wujiang Pavilion advised him to cross the river quickly and go back to Jiangdong to get back the drums. Xiang Yu felt ashamed to see his elders in Jiangdong, so he turned around and killed hundreds of enemy troops, and then committed suicide. The poet lashed out at the shameless behavior of the establishment in the Southern Song Dynasty, using the ancient to satirize the present, and the whole poem was only twenty.