Centennial Scenes: Selected Poems and Analysis

Author: Mei Zhencai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Passing through the Tiger Gate, sails billow with roaring across the vast sea, tiger's spirit surges, sword born beneath. Ten thousand miles of water floats the shadows of heaven and earth, one gate of mountains splits, sea tide roars. Future winds and rains stir the banners, to ascend the dragon and fish drums, they are startled. Holding the strategic pass, who dares to whip stones into a long wall?
Author Introduction: Pan Feisheng (1858—1934), styled Lanshi, known as Jianshi, was from Panyu, Guangdong. Born into a renowned family, his ancestors were celebrated for poetry and prose in Guangdong. Pan inherited his family's literary tradition, skilled in poetry, prose, and painting. Young and talented, his fame spread swiftly. At thirty, he was invited to teach Chinese literature at the East Asian Institute of Berlin University in Germany, where he spent three years and wrote many works during his travels in Europe. Historically known as Pan's European lectures and overseas travels, he pioneered China's overseas academic and travel writings.
After returning, he served as a chief editor for the Huazir Daily and Yuebao in Hong Kong, critiquing politics with significant influence. During his decade in Hong Kong, he maintained close ties with reformers like Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian, Zheng Guanying, and Qiu Fengjia, the prominent figures of the "Poetry Revolution." His friendships were deep and lasting. After the 1911 Revolution, he resided in Shanghai. Pan was renowned for his poetry, prose, and calligraphy, leaving behind the Complete Works of Shuojian Hall. He was hailed as the "Master of the Pearl Sea Poetry Circle." His poetic style was known for its "bold spirit." Pan was a key member of the Nanshe literary society. The swordsmen Pan Feisheng, Jianhua Yu Tu, Junjian Fu Tuniang, and Dujian Gao Tianmei—all bore the sword motif in their names—were collectively known as the "Four Swords of Nanshe."
Poetic Notes: Pan Feisheng lived in a tragic era of national adversity, when the golden vase was broken and the country was in turmoil. Facing internal strife and external threats, the poet felt his patriotic aspirations unfulfilled and his ambitions unexpressed, channeling his concerns about the times into his poetry. Thus, his works often reflect the sorrow of "the land remains, but people have changed," a poignant sense of loss.
The Tiger Gate is located in the southwest of Dongguan, Guangdong, where the Pearl River meets the sea. It was where Lin Zexu conducted the Opium Destruction. During the Opium War, the Tiger Gate fortress repeatedly defeated British invaders, while the heroic generals Chen Liansheng, Guan Tianpei, and soldiers and civilians sacrificed their lives there. Pan Feisheng, deeply patriotic, was moved by the scene when passing through Tiger Gate, evoking memories and composing this poem. The poet vividly depicts the scene: high sails billowing, sea wind roaring like mountains splitting. He then emphasizes that with strict defense at this fortress, the nation could build an impregnable "ten-thousand-li great wall."
The line "who dares to whip stones into a long wall?" refers to the patriotic soldiers and civilians of the Chinese nation. Pan often used the sword as a metaphor in his poetry, as seen in "tiger's spirit surges, sword born beneath." Thus, Qiu Fengjia praised Pan for "capturing the sword's spirit in his poetry," calling him "the pioneer of poetic realms unmatched by ancient sages, with brush power that transcends east and west."
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