Chinese poetry reading in Girona

April 23rd is Saint George's day, the patron saint of Catalonia. The festivity is called La Diada de Sant Jordi and people of all ages fill the streets to enjoy the Catalan lovers' day and buy books and roses for the beloved ones. Also, dozens of activities are organized in cities and villages, many of them related to Catalan culture.

One of these was organized in Girona by Òmnium Cultural Gironès and it was called "A tota veu" (In full voice). Its goal was to display the linguistic richness existing nowadays in Catalonia and to promote the learning of Catalan language as a tool for social cohesion.  Sinalunya took part in the reading by choosing two ancient Chinese poems and by reading their original version and the translation into Catalan.

The chosen poems were 花非花 ("It's like a flower but not a flower") by 白居易 (Bai Juyi, 772–846) and 劝酒 ("Urging you to drink") by 于武陵 (Yu Wuling). We used the translations into Catalan by professor Manel Ollé, from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in his book, “Pedra i pinzell” (Stone and brush), with a few changes of our own.

Chinese originals

 花非花 (白居易)

     花非花，雾非雾；

     夜半来，天明去。

     来如春梦几多时?

     去似朝云无觅处。

劝酒 (于武陵)

劝君金屈卮

满酌不须辞。

花发多风雨，

人生足别离。

 

Catalan translation

Flor que no és flor (Bai Juyi)

Flor que no és flor

Boira que no és boira

Ve a mitjanit i se'n va amb l'alba

Arriba com un somni de primavera, però què dura?

Marxa com un núvol matiner que es fon sense rastre

Si us plau, beu! (Yu Wuling)

No refusis que el meu licor

Ompli el teu calze

Igual que les flors aguanten grans pluges i vents

Cap vida és del tot viscuda sense un comiat

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Reading ancient Chinese poetry in Girona (picture by Pere Saló)[/caption]