The Lantern Festival Night - to the tune of Green Jade Table
by Xin Qiji （Southern Song dynasty）
One night’s east wind adorns a thousand trees with flowers
And blows down stars in showers.
Fine steeds and carved cabs spread fragrance en route;
Music vibrates from the flute;
The moon sheds its full light
While fish and dragon lanterns dance all night.
In gold-thread dress, with moth or willow ornaments,
Giggling, she melts into the throng with trails of scents
But in the crowd once and again
I look for her in vain.
When all at once I turn my head,
I find her there where lantern light is dimly shed.
青玉案·元夕
(宋)辛弃疾
东风夜放花千树。更吹落、星如雨。
宝马雕车香满路。凤萧声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞 。
蛾儿雪柳黄金缕。笑语盈盈暗香去。
众里寻他千百度。蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。
Xin Qiji's " Green Jade Table " depicts the scene of looking for a lover among the lanterns of lights on The Lantern Festival Night. It is one of the few works involving love in Jiaxuan's Ci.
This lyric was created under the political background of Xin Qiji's strong sense of serving the country, foreign weakness and the predominance of moderates.
In the upper part, he wrote about the dazzling lanterns and the music, and in the next section, he deliberately described the protagonist's search for a lonely woman standing in a place with scattered lights among the clouds of good women. The idea is exquisite, the language is exquisite, subtle and tactful, and the aftertaste is endless.
The excitement of the Lantern Festival is in sharp contrast to the refined beauty, which reposes the author's lofty character of being unwilling to collude with the secular world after being politically frustrated.
Creative background of The Lantern Festival Night - to the tune of Green Jade Table
This lyric was written in the first year of Chun Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1174) or Chun Xi two years (AD 1175). At that time, the strong enemy pressed the border and the national power was declining, while the ruling class of the Southern Song Dynasty indulged in singing and dancing to whitewash peace. Xin Qiji, who has insight into the situation, wants to change it, but he hates no way to volunteer. He was full of passion and resentment, which intertwined into this piece of quest map through the lantern festival.
About the Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival is one of traditional festivals in China, also known as Shangyuan Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar every year.
The lantern festival mainly includes a series of traditional folk activities such as appreciating lanterns, eating dumplings, guessing lantern riddles, setting off fireworks and so on.
In the Song Dynasty, there were lantern burning activities from January 14 to January 18 of the lunar calendar.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, "lantern riddles", as a type of riddles, have become an indispensable entertainment item for the Lantern Festival.
The poetic and romantic Lantern Festival is often associated with love.
In the poems of the past dynasties, many poems and lyrics express their love through the Lantern Festival. Ouyang Xiu of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote: "on the lantern festival night this year, the moon and the lights are still the same; sweetheart will never be there again, and tears wet my sleeves." It describes the pain of missing love.