Stopping by the Maple Bridge

Author: Zhang Ji (715—779)

The moon sets while a raven’s call pierces the frosty skyline.

Riverside maple trees and fishing lamps accompany me at bedtime as I repine.

The Cold Mountain Temple stands outside of Suzhou City.

At midnight, a bell tolls there, sending sound waves to the passenger boat of mine.

Zhang was a local government official of the Tang Dynasty. He didn’t make much impact career-wise, but the poem above suffices to make his name immortal. “Stopping by the Maple Bridge” is included in today’s elementary school textbooks of China and even Japan. The Maple Bridge still exists today in Suzhou, a canal-woven city with serene scenery, located in Jiangsu Province.

Copyright: A POETIC PORTAL TO CHINESE CULTURE, China Pictorial Press