Men, Come In — This Woman Generously Offers You a Chance to Win!

2006/3/1 11:43:01

This woman's three posts challenging all men in the world still hang high on the internet, unmoved by anyone. This is really not giving men any face. This woman has always been kind-hearted and benevolent, never wishing for her actions to cause men too much pain or make them feel truly pathetic.

Fine. Today this woman will generously offer men a chance to win, so men can also hold their heads up in front of this woman — otherwise drooping your heads before this woman all day is not a good look. The opportunity is simple: Taiwan has been a hot topic recently, so let us compose poems on Taiwan. They must be regulated verse (four couplets, either five- or seven-character lines) — not too long, not too short, easy to compare. In the past I've always made men match my rhyme scheme, but this time I'll give you another advantage: any rhyme scheme is fine, as long as it conforms to the Pingshui rhyme tables.

Such a challenge is hardly a challenge anymore. If everyone writes well, we can collect them together as an anthology — consider it a rallying cry for national reunification. But a challenge can still determine a winner: if anyone writes better than this woman, this woman will go offline for a month. That's very fair.

This woman's seven-character regulated verse "The Southeast" is an old piece, and this woman is not particularly satisfied with it. After all, this type of subject matter is very hard to write artistically satisfying — it tends toward the brash and bold. This woman has tried to correct for that, but still isn't very satisfied. Among my own works it can only rank as a lesser offering — but more than sufficient to handle men:

The Southeast

A Girl Who Likes Math (Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán)

Ten thousand li southeast, the sea floats up to heaven; one crack in the golden vessel, a hundred and fifty years.
Unburied blood of fish and dragons, ancient and modern; phantoms of mirages rise in dawn and dusk smoke.
In the wax and wane of Chinese and barbarian, shamed by Tang heroes; through storm and upheaval, longing for Zheng the sage.
A billion divine souls of China, roused once more; Kunlun uprooted and hurled to fill the surging waves.

Men — to defeat this woman, and also to rally for national reunification, come and accept the challenge!