Seeing Off Tate Uichiro2 on His Journey to the
East; (An old-style poem with seven characters to
the line) (1918)
The clouds have parted, and Mount Heng once again stands revealed; the sky is no
longer overcast.3
The mantis and the phoenix4 have appeared in the spring trees.
Lofty young talents such as Qu and Jia5
Were drawn together here by the majestic and spectacular scenery.
Your leaving inspires me to lift up my voice in song, Henceforth the kunpeng6 will
hit the waves and start its journey.
The waters of Lake Dongting and the Xiang River have risen to meet the skies,
And the great warship7 will dash straight eastward.
in 1921.
which will take Luo Zhanglong to Japan. The Wengao, and some other editions, have chongmeng’, Poems
and Couplets regards this as simply a typographical error.

For no reason I have scattered sorrow enough to fill the sky.
Fortunately it is driven ten thousand li away by the east wind.
What is worthy to occupy the thoughts of a true man?
He should regard the whole universe as a grain of rice.8
Though the seas flow turbulently, why be concerned?
Neither should one attend to the diverse and confusing affairs of human life.
But if you are mindful of your own body and spirit,
The sun and moon in your heart will shine ever brighter.
It has been five hundred years since men of talent arose,9
Apart from you, those in the public eye today are of no account.10
Many are the friends gathered in front of the Pinglang Palace,11
Narrow is the belt of water that separates Chongming Island from
the Tsushima Strait.12
Waiting for your letters to come from the Eastern Sea flashing like a sword, I will
turn back from the shore, while you go on.13
Students’ Society Records for May 1014
(History of the South: Chronicles of the Later Ruler of Chen), Emperor Wen of Sui said that Sui and
Chen were separated only by “a strip of water as narrow as a belt,” thus comparing the Yangtze to a
belt.

--- Notes

2 Tate Uichiro (meaning something like “he who ranges over the universe”) was the Japanese-style
name taken by Luo Zhanglong (1896-), born Luo Aojie, zi Zhongyan, hao Wenxian. A native of Liuyang,
Hunan, and a graduate of the Changjun Middle School, Luo was one of the founders of the New
People’s Study Society. In May 1915, he had gone to First Middle School in Changsha to visit a friend,
and had seen there the letter which Mao had written, using the pseudonym “Twenty-eight stroke
student,” expressing his desire to meet congenial spirits. (On this episode, see the note to Mao’s letter of
September 27, 1915, to Xiao Zisheng.) On returning to his own school, Luo immediately wrote a reply,
signing it Tate Uichiro. In the spring of 1918, in accordance with a decision of the New People’s Study
Society, Luo was preparing to go to Japan. The Society gave a farewell dinner party in his honor in the
outskirts of Changsha, and on that occasion Mao Zedong wrote this poem for Luo, addressing him by his
Japanese-style name, and signing it with his own pseudonym, “Twenty-eight stroke student.” On May 7,
1918, the anniversary of the Twenty-one Demands, the Japanese authorities beat up patriotic Chinese
students in Tokyo. When he arrived in Shanghai, Luo joined the widespread protest movement against
this action, and then, abandoning his plan to visit Japan, went to Beijing instead, where he studied the
humanities in the Beijing University Literature Department. He joined the Chinese Communist Party

3 Mount Heng is one of the five sacred mountains of China, located to the southwest of Changsha.
There is also an allusion here to a poem about clearing skies written by the Tang poet Han Yu while
climbing Mount Heng.
4 These are the names of two similarly shaped small peaks located near Changsha.
5 Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 B.C.), original name Qu Ping, zi Yuan, was a native of the state of Chu.
After enjoying high office, he was dismissed as a result of the intrigues of rivals. He thereupon expressed
his feelings in the famous lament Li sao. As already indicated, Mao had copied this poem in 1913 into
the book in which he wrote his “Classroom Notes,” and Qu Yuan remained one of the poets he most
frequently read and cited to the end of his life. Regarding Jia Yi (200–168 B.c.), see the note to Mao’s
letter of December 9,1916, to Li Jinxi.
6 This is yet another reference to the opening passage of the Zhuangzi. The bird called peng is
presented there as a metamorphosis of a giant fish called the kun. Here Mao uses the composite name
kunpeng, which evokes both the creature’s forms. The image of the peng or roc striking the waves with
its wings is a metaphor for a mighty will.
7 Mengchong, the term used by Mao, is an ancient name for a warship. Here, it refers to the steamer

8 This line is a conflation of two sentences from chapter 17 of the Zhuangzi which read as follows:
“If you measure the Four Seas against heaven and earth, are they not like an anthill on the wide moors?
If you measure the Middle Land against the Four Seas, is it not like a rice grain in a vast granary?”
(Graham, Chuang-tzu, p. 145.) The Chinese term for universe, yuzhou, includes the character yu (read
u in Japanese) which Luo Zhanglong had used in his Japanese name, and Mao probably also intended
an allusion to this here.
9 An allusion to Mencius, II, II, XIV, 3 (Legge, Vol. II, p. 232); the relevant sentence reads: “It is
a rule that a true royal sovereign should arise in the course of five hundred years, and that during that
time there should be men illustrious in their generation.”
of Lord Pingyuan in the Records of the Historian. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang translate the relevant
sentence: “You yes-men [gong lulu] can only reap what others have sown” (Records of the Historian, p.
131).
11 The place where the farewell dinner was held, which was also the pier for the river boats.
12 Chongming Island, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and Japan’s Tsushima Strait are
separated only by a narrow strip of water. According to the account in the Nanshi: Chen Houzhu ji

13 The last line draws on a passage in Chapter 20 of the Zhuangzi, in which a Daoist philosopher
named Yiliao is advising the Marquis of Lu as to how he can escape from the cares that burden him.
Mao’s wording comes from the italicized sentences, but we give the whole of the relevant paragraph
(Graham, Chuang-tzu, p. 173), in order to provide the context:
14 The Records of the Students’ Society of First Provincial Normal School was the object of a
resolution adopted after Mao had become general affairs officer in October 1917. Its purpose was “to
record current affairs, for the sake of future reference.” Issue no. 2 of the Records, the only one which
has been preserved, was written in turns by the staff members of the evening school. Originally, this
text was a speech delivered by Mao Zedong at the handing-over meeting of the society on May 10. It
was written into the Records on May 29. This issue of the Records also contains information about other