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Children’s Rhyme of the Time of Empress Wu
Thursday, 25 May 2023 07:13A long skirt layered red and green—
A thousand li, ten-thousand li, it still smells sweet.
武后时童谣
红绿复裙长，
千里万里犹香。
From Complete Tang Poems chapter 878, which has “popular rhymes.” Wu Zetian controlled the reins of government from 665 to 690 as empress consort then empress dowager before taking the throne herself as empress regnant from 690-705. As best I can tell, later historians tended to use only 后 or 皇后 as her title, even though she used 皇帝 (“emperor”) while regnant. As for the poem itself, I suspect a reference to public events I’m ignorant of.
An alternate text has the last line 十里五里犹香 “Ten li, five li, it still smells sweet” —which is an odd progression for a Chinese poem.
---L.
A thousand li, ten-thousand li, it still smells sweet.
武后时童谣
红绿复裙长，
千里万里犹香。
From Complete Tang Poems chapter 878, which has “popular rhymes.” Wu Zetian controlled the reins of government from 665 to 690 as empress consort then empress dowager before taking the throne herself as empress regnant from 690-705. As best I can tell, later historians tended to use only 后 or 皇后 as her title, even though she used 皇帝 (“emperor”) while regnant. As for the poem itself, I suspect a reference to public events I’m ignorant of.
An alternate text has the last line 十里五里犹香 “Ten li, five li, it still smells sweet” —which is an odd progression for a Chinese poem.
---L.