Chinese poem illustration: 齐风 敝笱/Qi Wind – Raw Fishing-basket by Anonymous
Full video also available at Bilibili: 齐风 敝笱
Apparently a simple praising poem like many others in Shijing. With a further analysis by the last character in each paragraph(云, 雨, 水), the parallel relationship between fishing-basket to fish and lord to people shows up. The deep hidden philosophy of imperial mandate, a hamony and happy land are nicely demonstrated, it also revealed the ambition of the lord of Qi.
The fishing-basket is always an argot or metaphor for interests, the fish of Fang(鲂) is a homonym for other states, in Chinese 方. So the combined homonyms 鲂鳏 equals 观方. In short, the whole sentence means the interets of Qi state is to observe/govern the states nearby.This complys with the history record, the lord of Qi was assigned the task by King of Zhou. In the same way, 鲂鱮=與方, 维维=这里那里.
The fundamental philosophy of ancient China is by Yijing(易经), the concept of cloud, rain and river(云雨水) are key elements to describe the nature, ie. the Heaven, the Earth and all creatures in between.
齐风 敝笱
佚名
敝笱在梁，其鱼鲂鳏。
齐子归止，其从如云。
敝笱在梁，其鱼鲂鱮。
齐子归止，其从如雨。
敝笱在梁，其鱼唯唯。
齐子归止，其从如水。
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