How Many Tears

Li Yu (李煜 • li3 yu4) was the last emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty. He was known as Li Houzhu (李後主 • li3 hou4zhu3), literally "the latter Lord Li"; as Houzhu of Southern Tang (南唐後主 • nan2 tang2 hou4zhu3), literally "the latter lord of Southern Tang", and posthumously, as Prince of Wu (吳王• wu2 wang2).
He was also a poet. His best-known poems were composed during the years after the Song formally ended his reign in 975. He was created the Marquess of Wei Ming (違命侯 • wei2 ming4 hou2), literally, the Marquess of Disobeyed Edicts. Li's works from this period dwell on his regret for the lost kingdom and the pleasures it had brought him.

"How Many Tears" or "Gazing at the South" is one of his poems from this later period.

多少淚
duo1shao5 lei4
(how)(many)(tears)
斷臉復橫頤
duan4 lian3 fu4 heng2 yi2
(cut)(face)(repeat)(across)(cheek)
心事莫將和淚說
xin1shi4 mo4 jiang1he2 lei4 shuo1
(worry)(not)(with) (together)(tears)(speak)
鳳笙休向淚時吹
feng4 sheng1 xiu1 xiang4 lei4 shi2 chui1
(Phoenix)(flute)(not)(to)(tears)(time)(play)
腸斷更無疑
chang2 duan4 geng4 wu2 yi2
(Heart)(break)(more)(without)(doubt)

The following english translation is from www.chinese-poems.com

"How many tears
Criss-cross your cheeks and run across your face!
Don't try to speak when worry makes you weep,
Nor play the flute when it will bring your tears,
Or surely then your heart will break."

You can practice the chinese pronunciation for this poem using Pinyin Talker. Remember, this tool is not meant to simulate natural speech but it will give you a clear pronunciation model for each of the syllables


Credits:
Li Houzhu. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 10, 2007, from Answers.com Web site: http://www.answers.com/topic/li-houzhu

"© Photographer: Mel Gama | Agency: Dreamstime.com"

Movies can teach you

Learning to speak Chinese is no easy task. It requires a lot of commitment and perseverance. The process can be so frustrating at times you may be tempted to just drop it!.
There are literally thousands of resources available on the web to help you in your studies but one thing I have found to be of enormous help is watching Chinese movies. I cover the subtitles and listen to the audio in Mandarin just to force myself to find and recognize familiar words. It helps a great deal to get used to the sound of natural or connected Chinese speech. It will definitely help you improve your Chinese language pronunciation.

A great movie to practice is "House of the Flying Daggers". I must have watched this film at least 3 dozen times . In all honesty, one of the reasons I keep watching it over and over again is because I AM MADLY IN LOVE with both Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, but that's another story altogether.

House of the Flying Daggers ( 十面埋伏 • shi2 mian4 mai2fu2) is a movie of the 武俠 • wu3xia2 • chivalry genre. From what I have read, the four character idiom means "lying in an ambush in ten sides".

十 • Shi2 is the word for the number ten; 面• mian4, refers to side, aspect, surface or area; and 埋伏 • mai2fu2 is a the word for "ambush" (where 埋 • mai2 = bury and 伏 • fu2 = prostrate or hide).

During the reign of the Tang dynasty (唐朝 • tang2chao2) in China, a secret organization called "The House of the Flying Daggers" rises and opposes the government. A police officer called Leo （劉船長 • liu2chuan2zhang3) sends officer Jin (金船長 • Jin1chuan2zhang3) to investigate a young dancer named Mei (小妹 • xiao3mei4), claiming that she has ties to the "Flying Daggers". Leo arrests Mei, only to have Jin break her free in a plot to gain her trust and lead the police to the new leader of the secret organization.

When I first saw the movie I had no idea that 章子怡 (zhang1 zi3yi2) could sing at all. As it happens, she does and beautifully. The movie introduces a theme performed by her and borrowed from a famous poem written by 李延年• li3 yan2nian2, a poet from the Han Dynasty (漢朝 • han4chao2).

These are the lyrics with some personal annotations to help you understand where the meanings come from:




















































You can listen to the song here
Remember you can practice your Chinese language pronunciation online with Pinyin Talker!