Swimming: A Poem
(June 1956)

Swimming: A Poem
(June 1956)

--- Notes

Source: Kau & Leung, The Writings of Mao Zedong 1949-1976, Vol. II
Pages 82-83
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source: Poems, pp. 51,53. Other Chinese Texts: Poems of Mao Tse-tung, pp. 84,
86; Shici, pp. 30-31; Mao shici, p. 13. Available English Translations: Poems, pp.
50, 52; Poems of Mao Tse-tung, pp. 85, 87; Mao poems, pp. 31-32; K. Fan (1972),
pp. xvi-xvii; J. Chen (1967), p. 346; PR, 30 (July 21, 1967), 4.


In May 1956 Mao swam across the Yangtze River from Wuchang to Hankou, and in June
he swam it a second time, crossing from Hankou to Wuchang. This poem is set to the tune
of Shuidiaoge tou (the first section of the tune Water Song, a ci pattern derived from the
Tang-dynasty daqu by the title of Shuidiao yinhanqu written by Wang Yan). See text Dec. 4,
1956, note 11, for a supplementary explanation regarding the title of this poem.