Chinese poem illustration: 邶风 匏有苦叶/Bei Wind – Gourd Leaves Bittered
Full video also available at Bilibili: 邶风 匏有苦叶
Crossing the river or not, a long-lasting and eternal metaphor of determination and success is well annotated by this poem, a Chinese example and saying of Rubicon river.
This poem depicted a moment when the troop stopped by Ji river(济水), a troop heading south to make a propose to a girl’s family, asking their consent to the marriage(This is a long and complex process, in short, 礼记：是以昏礼纳采、问名、纳吉、纳徵、请期，皆主人筵几于庙). A typical inter-state marriage only happened between state lord families or aristocrat families, this is a key background to this poem. An interesting story recorded by Zuozhuan(左传) is illutrated in the video as well: at the front line, a general expressed his determination and dedication to his headquarter by just reciting this poem without any other comments.
邶风 匏有苦叶
佚名
匏有苦叶，济有深涉。
深则厉，浅则揭。
有瀰济盈，有鷕雉鸣。
济盈不濡轨，雉鸣求其牡。
雍雍鸣雁，旭日始旦。
士如归妻，迨冰未泮。
招招舟子，人涉卬否。
人涉卬否，卬须我友。
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.