Unburied White Bones -- Cao Cao and Du Fu's Verses Depicting the Harsh Realities of War
In ancient China, the intellectual elites generally opposed wars whose primary objective was to expand an empire's territory. Despite the presence of belligerent emperors and warlords engaged in conflicts, a considerable body of poetry in ancient China highlights the excruciating pain and brutal deaths inflicted upon commoners by such wars. In this article, we translated two poems, one by Cao Cao and the other by Du Fu, shedding light on the suffering and loss of life experienced by common people due to warfare.
蒿里行 Walk Among the Dead 曹操 (Author: Cao Cao, 3rd century) 关东有义士,strategic pass east have righteous people 兴兵讨群凶。 rise army crusade against many evil men 初期会盟津, at the beginning expect meeting Mengjin 乃心在咸阳。 their heart at Xian Yang 军合力不齐,army combined strength not together/similar 踌躇而雁行。hesitate and geese move 势利使人争,power benefit make people dispute 嗣还自相戕。afterwards still themselves each other kill 淮南弟称号,Huannan younger brother claim title 刻玺于北方。inscribe royal seal at north direction 铠甲生虮虱,armor grow eggs of louse louse/flea 万姓以死亡。ten thousand commoners because of die demise 白骨露于野,white bone exposed at wilderness 千里无鸡鸣。one thousand li no chicken/rooster cry 生民百遗一,alive people one hundred left over one 念之断人肠。think of this break people bowel
Translation: There are good-hearted people east of the Hangu Gate Who raised an army to fight the evil men. These righteous warriors planned to meet at Mengjin With our nation’s capital in their hearts. They were strong, but not united. They hesitated and ran about like geese. Power and interests caused them to quarrel, And then they murdered one another. Young Huinan went south and called himself emperor, While his elder brother inscribed the royal seal in the North. Meanwhile, lice infested the troops’ leather armor, And ten thousand commoners died. Their unburied bones turn white in the wilderness And for a thousand miles no rooster cries Only one in a hundred people are left alive Just thinking of this makes me sick with grief.
兵车行 War Carts 作者:杜甫 (Author: Du Fu, 8th century) 車轔轔 Cart sound of carriage (ling, ling) 馬蕭蕭 horse walking sound, shoes, hooves clopping (xiao xiao) 行人弓箭各在腰 walk man bow arrow each at waist 爺孃妻子走相送 father mother wife child walk him send someone off 塵埃不見咸陽橋 dust dust not see Xianyang bridge, 牽衣頓足攔道哭 hold by hand clothes foot tapping block path cry 哭聲直上干雲霄 cry sound straight go on rush towards (clash) cloud sky 道旁過者問行人 path beside passing by person ask enlisted men 行人但云點行頻 enlisted men only talk select enlist frequently 或從十五北防河 either from 15 north defend yellow river 便至四十西營田 then reach 40 west manage field 去時里正與裹頭 leave time manager of an area and wrap head 歸來頭白還戍邊 return come head white still defend frontier 邊亭流血成海水 frontier yard flow blood become sea water 武皇開邊意未已 Emperor Wu opened up frontier intention wish not stop 君不聞漢家山東二百州 you not hear Han family (dynasty) mountain East 200 provinces 千村萬落生荊杞 1,000 village, 10,000 village grow wolf berry 縱有健婦把鋤犁 Even have healthy woman hold hoe plow 禾生隴畝無東西 Grain grow agricultural field not east west 況復秦兵耐苦戰 moreover again Qin nation soldier tolerate bitter war 被驅不異犬與雞 passive voice urge no different dog and chicken 長者雖有問 older person even have question 役夫敢申恨 War person (enlisted man) dare say hatred 且如今年冬 And like now year winter 未休關西卒 not rest strategic pass west soldier 縣官急索租 county official in a hurry ask rent (taxes) 租稅從何出 rent tax from where come out 信知生男惡 indeed know give birth men evil 反是生女好 on the contrary give birth to daughter good 生女猶得嫁比鄰 daughter still be able to marry neighbor 生男埋沒隨百草 give birth son bury disappear follow 100 grasses 君不見青海頭 you not see green sea side/edge 古來白骨無人收 old come white bone not person receive 新鬼煩冤舊鬼哭 new ghosts bother bitterness old ghosts cry 天陰雨濕聲啾啾 sky shade rain wet sound crying sound
Translation Rolling and more rolling of the war carts, The horse hooves constantly clopping. Soldiers with bows and arrows at their waists. Fathers, mothers, wives, and children come to say goodbye There are so many that we can’t see the bridge to the west. It’s covered with dust. They clutch the soldier’s clothes, stamp their feet, cry, And try to block their path. Their weeping blasts into the heavens, And breaks against the cloudy sky. I ask the soldiers questions, And they tell me they are forced to enlist again and again. At fifteen years old, they defend us at the north river. At forty they’re forced to grow food for the soldiers. When they leave, the village chief wraps their heads. When they come home again, their hair is white, And still, they go back to frontier to fight. On the frontier, so much blood flows that it becomes an ocean. But Emperor Wu’s greed for more territory never ends. Haven’t you heard that east of the pass, There are two hundred provinces? In a hundred thousand villages, Nothing but thorns and wolf berries grow. Even though the stronger women are tilling the land, The crops are still in disarray. In the West, the soldiers must endure a bitter war. Forced on like dogs and barnyard fowl. When an old man asks questions The soldier is afraid to confess his hatred. And this winter there will be no rest For the soldiers fighting in the West. The magistrate is still demanding taxes, right away Where will the money come from? Now we truly know that bearing a son is an evil fate. Even a daughter is better than that. The girl might be married to a neighbor, But a boy will leave you; he’ll be buried beneath the weeds. Have you ever seen the banks of the Green Sea Lake? Since ancient times, no one has gathered its white bones. The ghosts of the newly dead are filled with bitterness, While the old ghosts cry. The grey sky soaks the earth, And everywhere is the sound of sobbing.
Translation notes:
Cao Cao was a brilliant warlord who became very powerful by the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. He was also an influential poet, though, unfortunately, only a few of his poems remain. This particular poem was composed by Cao Cao during a period when a coalition of warlords, including himself, united to launch a punitive campaign against Dong Zhuo, a powerful general and minister accused of manipulating the Eastern Han dynasty's emperor. Initially, the alliance advanced towards the capital with apparent success, but internal power struggles among the warlords led to infighting, causing the alliance to collapse. In this poem, young Huinan refers to Yuan Shu, a warlord who claimed the Imperial Seal after the alliance captured Luo Yang. Yuan Shu, considering himself divinely favored, later declared himself emperor. The reference to "his elder brother" pertains to Yuan Shu's half-brother, Yuan Shao, another powerful warlord in the north. Cao Cao's poem's concluding stanza vividly depicts the hardships and loss of life endured by soldiers and commoners amid the power struggles and conflicts among these warlords. The lines "Their unburied bones turn white in the wilderness, And for a thousand miles no rooster cries" have become renowned in ancient Chinese poetry for portraying the suffering of soldiers and civilians during these turbulent times.
The second poem was written by Du Fu, who lived during the height of the Tang Dynasty’s wealth and prestige and during the devastating An Lushan invasion as well. Fu is one of China’s most renowned poets. A devoted Confucianist, he wrote feelingly of the sufferings of the common man. Although he speaks of Han dynasty Emperor Wu in the penultimate line of the second stanza of his poem, contemporary readers would have understood that he was actually making a thinly veiled reference to their own Bright Emperor. Someone in Du Fu’s time reading the first stanza of the poem would have also understood that when the soldiers crossed the bridge to the west, they were going toward the western border, where the Bright Emperor was aggressively expanding his domain. The third stanza also refers to the west, and the Green Sea Lake in the fourth stanza is a large and famous western lake. The repeated mentions of the west and the frontier are to emphasize the fact that these were primarily unjustified wars fought merely to enlarge territory. The only mention of any other direction comes in the second stanza when young soldiers fight at the “north river” (the Yellow River). This is the only place where Du Fu uses the word “defend” as the Tang Dynasty did face a serious threat at her north western border from Tibet.