Wishing the "Taiwan Strait Pacification Office" an Early Establishment, Playing "The PLA Captures Nanjing" (Three Versions)
2006/4/9 16:24:42
Yesterday's post "The 'Taiwan Strait Pacification Office' Must Be Established to Oversee the Suppression of Bandits in Taiwan!" already covered the necessity and urgency of establishing this office. To celebrate in advance, let's play "The PLA Captures Nanjing." Nanjing, the former capital of the old regime -- its capture was a historical event, while the annihilation of the remnant bandits of the old regime is another important historical event that should have passed but hasn't yet. For this reason, let's revisit "The PLA Captures Nanjing":
Over Zhongshan a sudden storm has brewed, a million troops cross the great river.
The tiger-crouching, dragon-coiling city outshines its past, earth-shattering change stirs deep emotion.
Press on with remaining valor to chase the cornered foe, don't seek fame like the hegemon of old.
If heaven had feelings, heaven too would age; the true path of the world is vicissitude.
As a regulated verse, this poem is actually somewhat substandard. First, the rhyme scheme has an error -- the character "jiang" (river) cannot share the same rhyme group with the other rhyming characters. As for the antithetical couplets being somewhat tautological, and the turning of Li He's "If heaven had feelings, heaven too would age" from gold into iron -- that goes without saying. But as lyrics, this poem will do -- at least it's much better than today's chaotic nonsense.
First, here's the author's own calligraphy. An objective assessment: the calligraphy is a bit better than the poetry.
As for the musical settings of this poem, the following three versions are all at least worthy of it artistically, and perhaps even surpass the poem!