Ancient Chinese Stories: The Old Chinese Tale Of Bo Ya and His Harp

In an Ancient Chinese City with a beautiful park

 

Welcome back to Joe’s Ancient Chinese Stories and Tales. Todays tale is a story is an old Chinese story from the Zhou Dynasty and is the story of one man, his harp and his best friend. A very deep yet interesting ancient Chinese tale that one can enjoy and understand relating this ancient story to that any could still show similar relations to today anywhere. I will translating todays Ancient Chinese Story. The tale is called, “He calls the tune.” This old Chinese story can be touching but still has some meaning to it many people can understand.

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Master Bo Ya was playing the qin and Zhong Zi Qi would listen to him. As he played, his thoughts would be on Tai Mountain. Zhong Zi Qi said, “Oh how splendidly you play your qin. They are as grand as the appearance of Mt. Tai.” Shortly after as Master Bo Ya played his qin, he began to focus on the flow of the of the river. Zhong Zi Qi heard this and then said, “How splendidly you play the qin! It is so clear and pure like the movements of a river!” When Zhong Zi Qi died, Bo Ya and never played played the qin again for the rest of his life. For his whole life he would not play the qin once again because he believed in the world there was no one worthy enough to play the qin for any longer. Playing the qin is similar to finding worthy people. Even if there is onw who is worthy, if you no longer have the method to treat them well, then how would they truly be able to be loyal to you?  The horse Ji could not travel 1000 li on his own, he could only travel so far because he went with Bo Le.

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This ancient Chinese story is fairly famous in certain groups.  Ancient Chinese stories like this were both entertaining and had a message inside which sometimes are easier in some Chinese tales to find than others. Now the qin for those who do not know is an ancient Chinese instrument that I guess one could call a Chinese harp. It’s actually a rather relaxing instrument to listen to I personally think. The story can show that sometimes one can’t do something by themselves, they need assistance. It also shows a sense of human nature that people may need each other and if something should happen such as death in a relationship, it hurts the living friend too, no matter whether it be ancient times or in the present. The horse known as Ji was a famous horse also that if I am not mistaken, Bo Le tamed and used as his own when no one else could. This can go back to the worthy person. The worthy person would be able to fully understand Bo Ya and his music, but he thought no one one ever could as Zhong Zi Qi had. Tai Shan or Mount Tai is a very famous mountain in China as welll; often it has many spiritual references and just natural aesthetic references to it ancient Chinese tales and old Chinese history as well as modern (but not as much mind you). This story is a sad story that I personally believe most of us in one way or another could relate to.

Todays Chinese stories picture I took in one China’s oldest cities in the Shaan Xi province. I still remember the park very fondly since it was so serene and I imagine had Bo Ya been in that area, he would have played songs o the scenery there as long as Zhong Zi Qi was with him.  If anyone wishes, leave a comment and I will e-mail should you need anything. Till the next ancient Chinese story.

Ancient Chinese Story: An Affair in Ancient China And What Zhao Jian Zi Learned From It

Act like the neighbor, and you will be walking this long road alone too.

Welcome back to Joe’s Ancient Chinese Stories. This time I shall attempt to translate the story. This comes from the Zhou dynasty and is a tale in which a good lesson is learned.  This story in English translated from Chinese is called, “Here we go round the mulberry bush.” Just so all the ancient Chinese Story readers in advance, Zhao Jian Zi is Viscount Jian of Zhao in other ancient Chinese translations.

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Zhao Jian Zi raised an army to attack Qi, and said that if any of his troops were to dissobey him it would be punishable by death. He looked out at the soldiers, and saw Gong Lu in the in the distance laughing at him. Zhao Jian Zi then said to him, “Why do you laugh?” Gong Lu replied, “I was just thinking of an old joke.” Zhao Jian Zi then said, “You shall explain it now, and if you can not, then you shall die.” Gong Lu then said, “During the mulberry harvest season, my neighboring family’s husband and wife went to go work on the fields. The husband saw a girl in the middle of the bushes, and went to chase after the girl but could not catch her. When they had returned home, his wife was so angry with him that she left him. I laugh at how he became lonely.” Zhao Jian Zi then said, “Now I attack a kingdom and shall lose one too, that will become my loneliness.” Upon that he disbanded and his army and returned to his kingdom.

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So I need to mention this ancient Chinese Story’s cultural note. Mulberry trees and bushes are very imprtant in ancient China. These were what the silk worms would often feed on so to maintain all the silk worms, they would harvest the leaves and leave them in a small room where they could easily be taken afterword to obtain the silk bounty of the worms. The lesson i the today’s ancient Chinese Story which I bring you is to be grateful for what you have. The mulberry fields was where women worked in China in large numbers in the ancient times. As a result, with so few men and many women, the mulberry fields became the place for affairs in many Chinese writings. If you were to look at later writings perhaps from the Tang dynasty, most secret love stories would be in the mulberry fields whether it be among ancient commoners or the ancient Chinese royalty, the story would be there where they would meet in secret and so on.

This photo I took when I was in Xi An. Till the next Ancient Chinese Stories’ tale everyone. And please do send some photos to me everyone, I don’t have so many of China, and I will give you the credit, I just am trying to find photos that match the stories well.

So I leave you with a quote from Zhuang Zi, “Was I dreaming that I was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a human?”