Return to the Field is a Chinese

Chinese poetry

Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, which includes various versions of Chinese language, including Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Yue Chinese, as well as many other historical and vernacular varieties of the Chinese language...

 rhapsody

Rhapsody (music)

A rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations...

 written in the fu style

Fu (poetry)

Fu is a kind of rhymed prose, or poetry style essay, popular in ancient China, especially during the Han Dynasty. The term fu is often used in a multiway contrast with the more purely poetic shi style, with the fixed-rhythm forms of poetry , and with various more explicitly prosaic forms of...

 by Zhang Heng

Zhang Heng

Zhang Heng was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar from Nanyang, Henan. He lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty of China. He was educated in the capital cities of Luoyang and Chang'an, and began his career as a...

 (AD 78–139), an official, inventor, mathematician, and astronomer of the Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

 (202 BC–220 AD) in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

Background

Return to the Field was written as Zhang rejoicefully went into retirement in 138, after retiring from the corrupted politics of the capital Luoyang

Luoyang

Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...

 and then serving a post as administrator over Hejian, Hebei

Hebei

' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

. His poem reflected the life he wished to lead in retirement while emphasizing markedly Daoist

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

 ideas over his Confucian

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

 background. Liu Wu-chi writes that by combining Daoist ideas with Confucian ones, Zhang's poem "heralded the metaphysical verse and nature poetry of the later centuries." In the rhapsody, Zhang also explicitly mentions the sage of Daoism, Laozi

Laozi

Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...

 (fl. 6th century BC), as well as Confucius

Confucius

Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....

 (6th century BC), the Duke of Zhou

Duke of Zhou

The Duke of Zhou played a major role in consolidating the newly-founded Zhou Dynasty . He was the brother of King Wu of Zhou, the first king of the ancient Chinese Zhou Dynasty...

 (fl.

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

 11th century BC), and the Three Sovereigns.

Rhapsody selection

A section about spring in Zhang Heng's rhapsody, translated in Liu Wu-chi's book An Introduction to Chinese Literature (1990), reads as thus:

	Then comes young spring, in a fine month, When the wind is mild and the air clear. Plains and swamps are overgrown with verdure And the hundred grasses become rank and thick. The kingly osprey flaps its wings; The orioles wail mournfully— Their necks entwined, fluttering, They call to each other in tender notes. Thus happily I roam and play, My feelings to cherish: I am like a dragon chanting on the moor Or a tiger roaring in the mountain. I gaze up and let loose the slender bowstring; Looking down, I fish in a long stream. The loitering bird, struck by the arrow, Drops from the clouds. And the shark, hooked for greediness, I suspended in the watery abyss. Meanwhile, the radiant sun has slanted its shadow And is overtaken by the moon charioteer. Entranced by the supreme joy of rambling, I forget all weariness even as the sun sets. Moved by the precept handed down by Laozi, I wend my back to the thatched cottage. I pluck the five strings with deft fingers; I read the book of Zhou and Kong. I flourish my pen and invoke elegant words To expound the patterns of the Three Emperors. If one but let one's heart roam beyond this realm, Why should one know the semblance of honor and disgrace?