Ancient Chinese Stories:The Old Tale Of The Black Bear Rescuing The Old Man

黑熊救命

Hey everyone welcome back to the ancient Chinese Stories blog. Today’s tale is supposedly an ancient tale from norhtern China passed down from generation to generation. The ancient story is called The Black Bear Rescues A Life. This ancient Chinese story for today I will be translating from Chinese into English myself. and the story itself will be coming from my Chinese Textbook that I was using in my last year of college. Enjoy the ancient Chinese story everyone.

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Once upon a time in the early spring, in the northern mountain lands of China, a tale had begun to spread-the tale of the black bear who saved Lao He’s life.

On that day, Lao He was on his way back home, traveled over 30 li on the road and kept traveling until he arrived to an ice sealed rivers. As he was thinking about continuing on the path, he suddenly heard all around him the ice beginning to crack; now he wanted to turn back but it was already too late and he fell through into the frozen river Both of his hands clinged on to the ices edge as he desperately tried to climb out but the ice continued cracking quicker and quicker and he was so low on energy he began to lose consciousness…

Just then a sound resembling the cry of an animal came to Lao He’s ears calling out：he felt his body being dragged out of the river. Not so shortly after, he passed out…

As the sun set over the mountain, Lao He gradually began to regain consciousness, and realized he was lying down next to the river on top of a dirt bank, he began to wonder how is it he arrived there since he could not remember how he was pulled out from the river. At that time, He saw only two black bears not so far from him sitting and they were looking at him. Only on their heads was there sine white fur under their mouth’s and they were still were still howling to him non stop.

“Ah, it was Xiao Bai (little white)! It must have been both xiao bai and its mother who rescued me!” Lao He anxiously sat upright: waving to them he yelled out, “Xiao Bai! Xiao Bai!” Those two white mouthed black bears, suddenly ran away fast….

3 years after that day, Lao He was working on the mountain, when he suddenly heard from the center of the mountain some animal crying out; so he picked up his axe and went to the sound. With a head over two feet long,  it was a small black bear and its forehead was covered in long white fur: one of its back legs was trapped under a stone. He could still see the head of a large black bear walking around and turning its head, reluctant to leave it stayed close to the back of the stone and stayed near a nearby tree in the forest. Once Xiao Bai saw a person, it got even scarder and began to desperately screaming trying to pull its leg out…Lao He squatted down and slowly moved towards the bear. Using his axe, he broke the stone into fragments which the bears leg was trapped by and freed its leg. But it only took a few steps and it was in such pain that it sat down. Lao He immediately carried Xiao Bai back to his home and carefully put some pit some medicine onto Xiao Bai’s leg and the terrible pain stopped. The little bear began to recognize him and began to understand what was happening: it looked up and slowly walked over to the edge of the kang. Under Lao He’s care and treatment, it was not long until all of the little bear’s pain was and slowly was able to walk again. When Lao He cooked, the little bear would not leave his side: when he went to work on the mountain, the little bear would also always be close to his side. Lao He really liked the little bear, and called it by the name of, “Xiao Bai.”

One evening, Xiao Bai’s mother came into the courtyard woefully calling. Xiao Bai excitedly realized it and ran out. Lao He understood: the mother bear came to take her child, so he immediately opened the door and took Xiao Bai out to her. Since then a few days had passed and Lao He didn’t see Xiao Bai, and Lao He extremely missed it.

About 5 days later one evening, Lao He was sleeping when he woke up to the cry of an animal. He excitedly got to the door and through the moonlight looked outside; Xiao Bai had returned. Lao He excitedly cooked some grains for Xiao Bai who ate its fill and then jumped onto the kang where it once slept and began to sleep once more. Since then Xiao Bai has become Lao He’s outside guest, every time Xiao Bai comes, Lao He let’s Xiao Bai eat to its content. If for a long time it would not come,  Lao He would put food outside for both Xiao Bai and its mother: over a long time, Lao He would always stay best friends with the two black bears.

Today, Lao He never even dreamed or thought that in his life, in the most dangerous time, that Xiao Bai and it’s mother would be the ones to save him.

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So that was today’s ancient Chinese story. If you do ask southern Chinese people of this tale, no one really ever has heard of it, but I have asked some northern Chinese of these stories and about a third of the people had an idea as to what it was. I chose to leave his name as Lao He rather than constantly saying old man He. For those of you who do not know, in ancient times in China, they would use the Kang which is a brick bed to keep warm in the winter because you could heat some of the bricks helping keep warm in areas where weather can get freezing such as Ji Lin. Now, the kang is no longer used in many parts thanks to heating technology. I am not sure when exactly this particular story began to come into existence but from what I understand, it is not too old of a Chinese story but it does come from the Ming dynasty.

Before I end todays story post I wish to say I will only be writing occasionally the ancient Chinese stories for the blog, but any who have concerns are free to contact me.  Till the next story everyone.

Ancient Chinese Stories: A Modern Chinese Tale of a Chinese Dinner Gone Wrong

Hey everyone, welcome back to the ancient Chinese stories blog. So this tale which today I shall translate is a story about a dinner party, and really what happens when you have poor etiquette. This story is from my Chinese language textbook, so I am not so sure about its history, judging by its writing, this Chinese story was written sometime in the last 100 years, so it is more of a modern Chinese story or tale. One thing I will say now however is that this story is told by someone, in a more first and second person point of view. Today’s Chinese Story is called, “inviting guests.”

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Speaking is a form of art. Some people speak and people who hear them feel happy, some people speak and make people angry. I have a friend, and he can’t speak. When he speaks, people he speak to become very unpleased.

One time, he invited some friends to treat to dinner at a restaurant. That day he invited altogether four people, three people had come and there was still one who still had not arrived. As he was waiting he began to get alittle anxious, and said, “There should be one more guest but he still hasn’t come!” One of the guests sitting next to him heard this and got upset. He thought, “If he was the one who was supposed to come and hasn’t arrived yet; am I the one that shouldn’t have come?” The guest then stood up and said, “I’m sorry, I have to go do some things. As he was leaving the restaurant, he said to the waiter at the door, “You can tell them they don’t have to wait for me.”

A little time had passed and the waiter came and asked my friend, “Sir, the dishes you ordered are all ready, shall I bring them out now for you?”

“Don’t Forget, we are still waiting for someone.” My friend looked around and saw that he was short of one guest, and then asked, “Where did he go?” The waiter answered, “That guest has already left.” Once my friend heard this, got more anxious and said, “He shouldn’t of have been the one to have left!”

At this time, there were two guests waiting. One of my friend’s guest hear what he said and got very upset, he thought, “He shouldn’t have been the one to left, so he means the one who should of left still hasn’t left, very well, I am the who should have left, I’ll leave now!” He stood up and without saying even a sentence he left the restaurant.

Only one guest was now sitting there. My friend then said to himself, “Why did they all leave? This guest then said, “Didn’t you say that the one who should of came didn’t come and the one who left shouldn’t have been the one to leave? Those to thought to themselves they are the ones that should not be here. Therefore they all left. For the future you really must pay attention to what you say a little more.”

“Yes, next time I will certainly pay attention to what I say.” My friend then said, “But, it was not them which I meant when I was talking!” “What?” The guest angrily asked; “When you spoke you meant me!” This guess also then left.

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So this is more a tale about speaking and proper etiquette. While it is ok to want to wait for one friend in Chinese culture, you do not say so (in any culture for that matter). I guess this particular Chinese story especially shows that speaking really is a form of art.
I could not find a picture that would have fit todays Chinese story and I do apologize for that, hopefully next Time I will have an image for anyone reading the story. Till the next Ancient Chinese story post everyone.

南轅北轍 Ancient Chinese Stories: The Ancient Chinese Tale Behind The Saying Nan Yuan Bei Zhe

Welcome back to the Ancient Chinese Story Blog. Today’s tale which I will discuss is a common idiom in the Chinese tongue’s origins story. If someone goes to you in China and says, “南轅北轍” it means one is acting in a way that would defeat one’s purpose even if you literally translate the Chinese meaning, it means “south shafts north rut.” Yet this old saying has very old roots in Chinese culture. It is a story about a traveler and how he wanted to go where it was that he went. Today’s ancient Chinese story will be translated from the modern Chinese text (sorry I don’t have the original ancient Chinese text to show everyone today) into English.

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Once upon a time, there was a man who was riding in a horse drawn carriage and traveling to go take care of some affairs; and in the carriage there was also a very big suitcase. He told the driver to of the carriage to drive non-stop and the horse ran extremely fast.

Along the road, there was an old man who saw them and asked, “Sir, you seem anxious, where do you need to go?”

The man in the carriage then replied in a loud voice, “I need to go to the state of Chu.” The old man heard and laughing he smiled and said, “You are going the wrong way. The state of Chu is in the south, how come you are going to to the north?”

“That’s alright,” The man in the carriage then said, “Can you not see? My horse runs very fast.”

“Your horse is great, but you’re path is incorrect.”

“It’s no problem, my carriage is new, it was made just last month.”

“Your carriage is brand new, but this is not the road one takes to get to Chu.”

“Old Uncle, you don’t know,” and the man in the carriage pointed to the suitcase in the back and said, “In that suitcase there’s alot of money. No matter how long the road is, I am not afraid.”

“You have lots of money, but do not forget, The direction which you are going is wrong. I can see, you should go back the direction which you came from.”

The man in the carriage heard this and irritated said, “I have already been traveling for ten days, how can you tell me to go back from where I came?” He then pointed at the carriage driver and said, “Take a look, he is very young, and the driver drives very well, you needn’t worry. Goodbye!”

After he said he told the driver to drive forward, he drove and the horse ran even faster.

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Now I always like this ancient story simply because it shows how stubborn people can be. The moral that could be found in this story besides the self defeating act is not to turn down advice so easily and if we make a mistake, to try and admit it (though in this tale though he did make quite a mistake though). We see the state of Chu, so realistically this story comes from the time of the Zhou dynasty. In ancient China, Chu was actually fairly strong but mind you in the end they as all the other warring states at the time, fell to the Qin. So we know this ancient story is over 2000 years old (quite ancient if I may so) and still in modern China today is still being used. Quite remarkable when one thinks of it.

Todays picture I took when I was in Xi An and figured that for this story would be rather ideal. This artefact originates from the Qin dynasty and was found by the Terracotta soldiers. That is all for todays ancient Chinese story. Till the next ancient tale everyone.

Ancient Chinese Stories: The Ancient Chinese Tale of Master Zeng AKA Zeng Zi Refusing A city

My ancient Chinese text

Hey everybody, welcome back to my ancient Chinese story site. So today I am going to be translating a story from the Zhou dynasty about master Zeng aka Zeng Zi. Now Master Zeng is a very well known ancient Chinese person. The story I will tell you today is a translation (my own) from the original ancient text I used in my classical Chinese textbook. The title of todays ancient tale is Master Zeng Refuses A City.

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Zeng Zi would wear tattered clothes as he would plow the fields. The ruler of Lu sent a messenger to Zeng Zi offer him a town and the messenger said, “We request that you have this so you may fix your damaged clothes.”

Master Zeng didn’t accept it. Not being accepted the messenger returned to his master, then was sent back to Zeng Zi and he did not accept it again. The messenger then said, “Master, you are not taking from others, they wish to give to you. Why shall you not accept?” Zeng Zi then said, ” Those who accept these gifts are afraid and those who give the gifts are arrogant. Even if the ruler had a gift and he still was not arrogant to me, I can’t not fear him?” In the end he did not accept it. Confucius heard of this and said, “My disciple said this was sufficient enough to maintain his virtue.”

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Master Zeng’s ancient Chinese story was quite remarkable for the situation which he was in. Now mind you normally when I hear of Master Zeng, I do think this story, but usually I tend to think more of his mother. His mother in ancient times was a well respected and strong woman.  If this is the case, then one can see from this ancient story why Master Zeng is brave enough not to accept the rulers bribe or be forced to fear him. It also shows that there was high sense of honor and virtue which Confucius admired especially since he did not perform anything violent.

Today’s ancient Chinese stories’ picture is the actual text I used to translate it. You can see all my notes as well as the former owners notes on it. This Chinese story is the ancient text and as a result much tougher to translate. Well, that is all for the ancient Chinese stories writer today, till the next ancient Chinese tale everyone.

Ancient Chinese Stories: The Ancient Tale Of 3 Fools in Ancient China

Hey everyone, welcome back to the ancient Chinese Story blog. I apologize for not updating in almost a month but school is harsh. Today’s ancient Chinese tale is more a satire which is short but fun. The story is a rather old one from what I know, but it was also taught to children so that way the kids would not behave in such a rude manner. Today’s ancient Chinese tale I myself shall translate from the Chinese text into English. My version of the text is modern Chinese and comes from my textbook which my Chinese 203 and 204 textbook.

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Once upon a time there was a county magistrate, he felt that he was very smart. One day, he said to his chai yi, (a type of errand runner) “I will give you guys 3 days time, you guys need to go out and find 3 foolish people, and then bring them back to my place.” On the first day, they found no one. On the second day, they saw a man riding a horse, and in his hand he was carrying a very big suitcase.

They went over to the man and asked him, “You are riding a horse, why do you still carry your own suitcase?” That man replied, “I am riding the horse,  and it is already very tired, and if it also had to carry the suitcase, wouldn’t that make it even heavier?” The chai yi heard this and were extremely happy: they found their first fool. And so they left with him. The third day they went to the city entrance and saw a man with bamboo entering the city. The gates were small and his bamboo were very long; at first he carried them vertically, and he couldn’t get in, then he tried it horizontally, but still couldn’t get in. He get very frustrated. After that, he cut thyem in half and only then could he enter the city. The chai yi saw this and found their second fool. They left with him afterward.

On the 4th day, the chai yi brought the two men to the county magistrate to meet. They told him the two fools stories. The county magistrate heard this, laughing at the second fool said, “You’re such an idiot! Why not just throw the bamboo over the wall?” The chai yi heard this and snapped back, “we found our third fool.” The county magistrate looked all around and confused said, “here there are only two people, where’s the third one?” The chai yi replied, “the third fool is you.”

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You can see why this ancient story was used to teach kids. The moral here is not to be so prideful and arrogant. It can also show us that everyone, no matter what their status, still can have their faults. Very satirical, but good Chinese tale to learn a lesson from. Alright guys, I will keep this wrap up short. No picture today alas, I didn’t see anything that would fit. Till the next ancient Chinese story everyone. May we all learn and live in joy.

Ancient Chinese Poetry: The Sad Ancient Story of Chinese Women. A Sad Tale Indeed

Taken in Xi An at her old bathing grounds

 

So todays ancient Chinese story is really a poem. I had recently bought a book by Arthur waley containing all sorts of ancient Chinese tales and poetry. This is the sad truth of ancient Chinese women and their lives. So today before I write the translation form Arthur Waley I will give a brief history of the women in China. So during the ancient times, women in the world generally (not always though depending which society you speak of) were not so highly respected. In China, where Confucianism eventually would become the dominant Chinese philosophy, women in ancient Chinese society would gradually degrade women seeing them as far inferior to men. They were there essentially just to treat the men well and be the typical housewife. When a woman was born, there was no joy to be found and women were placed under the bed for the first few days (mind you I researched this and thought it was a lie until I read of it in actual Chinese texts still in Chinese) in order to humble the ancient girls.  This ancient Chinese poem will tell you the rest. Now on todays on Chinese Tales and stories post I will only change some words from wade-giles into ping yin. The title of the poem is called Woman original written by the Chinese poet Fu Xuan.

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How sad it is to be a woman!

Nothing on earth is held so cheap.

Boys stand leaning at the door

Like Gods Fallen out of Heaven.

Their hearts brave the Four Oceans,

The wind and dust of a thousand miles.

No one is glad when a girl is born:

By her the family sets no store.

When she grows up, she hides in her room

Afraid to look a man in the face.

No one cries when she leaves her home-

Sudden as clouds when the rain stops.

She bows her head and composes her face,

Her teeth are pressed on her red lips:

She bows and kneels countless times.

She must humble herself even to the servants.

His love is distant as the stars in Heaven,

Yet the sunflower bends toward the sun.

Their hearts more sundered than water and fire-

A hundred evils are heaped upon her.

Her face will follow the years’ changes:

Her lord will find new pleasures.

They that were once like substance and shadow

Are now as far as Hu from Qin

Yet Hu and Qin shall sooner meet

Than they whose parting is like Can and Chen

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While this is usually the case, there were some exceptionally powerful women in China. Todays ancient Chinese Stories’ picture actually is from the time of Empress Wu, known as one of the harshest leaders in the Tang, but she also did help it develop as well.  She also helped to really bring Buddhism into China since she herself was a very advent Buddhist. I could go on for quite a while about her, but perhaps I will reserve that for another post.  Before I end off todays tale, the picture I took in the summer of 2007 and the water was still so warm from the fountains, this woman really knew how to live for the times. Thanks again for reading everyone, till the next post.

Ancient Chinese Stories: The Tale of Old Man Yu Gong and The Mountain

Yu Gong wished to move a whole mountain...insane!!

Welcome back to the ancient Chinese story blog everybody. Todays old Chinese story is very famous and I will be translating myself from Chinese Bai Hua into English. It is a rather old story that shows us something about Chinese culture; the emphasis of hard work. It shows us that the ancient Chinese as people still do today work very hard, but there is a moral to this tale; work on something that is feasible, be passionate in your field, and it is possible. Today’s ancient Chinese stories’ story is 愚公移山 (yu gong yi shan)。When translated from Chinese to English, the story title is The Foolish Old Man Moves The Mountain. I will leave his name is Yu Gong for my translation of the tale today. I wish I could give you some more background on the story but sadly I never found the history of this ancient tale. Just a note, I will be translating only a part of today’s ancient Chinese tale because I found out unfortunately that the textbook I have only has part of it in it.

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Once upon a time there was an old man named Yugong, and he was almost 90 years old. In front of the entrance to his home was two big mountains, for his family, it was very inconvenient for his family to come and go. One day, Yu Gong said to his family, “These two mountains in front of the entrance, they are just too inconvenient. Why not get rid of these mountains?”

His son and grandson heard this and then said right after, “What you say is true,  tommorow we shall start to do it!”

His wife felt it was too difficult to move a mountain and said, “Do you guys see how tall those mountains are? How can you guys move such large mountains? And where will you put so many rocks and stones?”

They all replied, “We only need to work hard, and then we most certainly shall be able to move those mountains. We can take all the stones on the mountains and put them into the sea.” On the second day, Yu Gong and his family began to move the mountain. His neighbor had children; they heard they wanted to move the mountain, and together happily they went to move the mountain with them together. They weren’t scared of strong winds, if it was raining,  in summer they feared not heat, in winter they feared not the cold, and everyday they worked nonstop. There was an old man named Zhisou (智叟；the wise old man) who saw Yu Gong and his family at work moving the mountain.

He thought that this was ridiculous and said to Yu gong, “Now you are so old, and you are near the end of the road, is it really possible to move the mountains?”

Yugong replied, “You still don’t have a young intelligent grandson. Even though I will die soon, I still have a so, when my son dies, I still shall have a grandson. We will move the stones on the mountain little by little and it shall become smaller. If we work everyday nonstop, why should we not be able to move this mountain?” Zhisou heard this, and was speechless.

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On a sadder note, I believe this is only part of the text, from what my Chinese friends tell me. A cursed textbook, this time you have let me down and so I apologize to all ancient Chinese Story blog readers.  The tale does end on a happy note for our dear Yu Gong.  The heavenly emperor heard about how hard Yu Gong was working and asked the mountain gods to move the mountains away. Yu Gong in the end, proved that anything with determination could be done and embarrassed ZhiSou, quite the ancient story indeed.

As I mentioned before, today’s ancient story has a nice moral to the story; work hard, and anything is possible. It also shows how determined the people of Old China, the ancient Chinese and even today will work hard. In a way, for the time this was written, that was pretty bold for any Chinese or anyone in the world at that time to say they could move a mountain. Yet, I still do get a good laugh out of these ancient Chinese stories and tales.

On a note, the picture used in the Ancient Chinese Stories blog was taken in Xi An, and was at Empress Wu’s old bathing grounds. If anyone has any nice pictures of Ancient Chinese sites, feel free to post them up. Thank you to all the people also who comment and read my blog, glad to see there are still some interested in ancient cultures of any sort. A big thanks to my friends also for seeing that the story was incomplete.

Ancient Chinese Story: The Ancient Chinese Tale About Chinese Shoes

Hey everyone, so today’s old Chinese story is a bit of a comedy. I can’t tell you where or when this tale exactly did come from since I have no information on it other than the actual text itself. Correction I know one thing; this ancient Chinese story is over one thousand years old. Todays Ancient Chinese Stories Text is called “Buying Shoes.” Todays tale I will be translating the text from a modern version (bai hua) as opposed to the wen yan wen form.

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Once upon a time, there was a man who wished to buy a pair of shoes, he first measured himself his footsize, but when he left, he wnt in such a rush that he forgot to bring the measurments with him. Only after he got to the store did he realize that he left his size measurements at home. He said to the shopkeep, “I want to buy some shoes, and I already measured my foot size at home perfectly, but I forgot to bring the measurements with me, and I don’t remember the exact measuments. I must go back home first and bring the measurements with me.” Right after he said that, he ran back home to get the measurements. After he got his things and ran back to the shop, at that time, the shop already had closed. He traveked so far and in the end did not buy shoes, he was very upset.

One of his friends saw he had not bought the shoes and asked him, “What did you wish to buy the shoes for?” He then answered, “I wanted them for myself.” His friend then said, “You wanted to give them you’re shoe measurements, why did you not just use their measurements instead, did you really need to bring your own measurements?” After hearing his friends words, he said, “Even though I could have used their measurements was possible, I still believe my measurements were better.”

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You know, I thought about the Ancient Chinese dynasty known as the Qin (or Chin) dynasty. I thought of this because they did something great, they standardized all measurements making it much easier to be united. Now, obviously the story is a joke but the ancient tale does bring up a great point indirectly that one should follow standards when it comes to things such as this. This story shows how anywhere from the Ancient Chinese kingdoms to the modern world as we know today, people can be needlessly stubborn and have no trust in one another when they should have some more.

I am sorry that today I have no picture to appropiately address today’s ancient Chinese story, hopefully next time the ancient story I use will be able to work with one of my pictures rather well.  Till the next Ancient Chinese Stories’ post everyone. As always, feel free to comment.

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.