Huichang

(To the Tune "Pure and Serene Music")

(Summer 1934)

In the East dawn is about to break,
Say not, "You are early afoot."
We who have traversed the whole of these green hills
are yet unwearied.²
The scenery here is singularly fair.

Beyond the walls of Huichang mountains rise high,
Peak after peak, straight to the Eastern Sea.
The fighters, pointing, gaze toward Guangdong,
Greener still, and more luxuriant.

This poem was first published in the first issue of Shikan in January 1957. Our source is
Shici duilian, pp. 46-47.

1. Huichang is the name of a xian in southeastern Jiangxi. The xian town of Huichang
was part of the Central Soviet Area, and when Mao wrote this poem he was there doing
investigation work as the Red Army prepared for the Long March.
2. The following note to this line, now officially attributed to Mao himself, appeared
when this poem was first published in book form in December 1958: "In 1934, the
situation was desperate. We were preparing for the Long March and the mood was very
gloomy. This poem to the tune 'Pure and Serene Music' reveals the same sort of inner
feelings as the earlier one, to the tune 'Bodhisattva Stranger.'" Two poems to that "tune-title" in fact appeared in the first issue of Shikan and in the 1958 edition along with this
one: "Yellow Crane Tower" (Spring 1927), translated in Volume II, p. 484, and "Dabodi"
(Summer 1933), translated above. The editors of Shici duilian state that Mao is here
referring to "Yellow Crane Tower" and this seems most likely.


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