324 t He F i v e Dy na s t i e s anD t He s ong Dy na s t y
ably unromanticized one, noticeably less so than Lu You’s in his poem “An Outing
to Villages West of the Mountains.” There may be laughter and singing while the
families thresh the rice, but the work continues all through the night. The theme
of the arduousness of farm life runs throughout the poems. It is exactly because,
in “Spring, No. 10,” so much toil has gone into his garden that its owner has no
qualms about setting out thorns to greet the bare feet of small children who might
be tempted to help themselves to the results of his labor.
Fan Chengda’s refusal to sentimentalize the life of peasants around him shows
itself in another conspicuous theme in his poems: the relentless struggle to meet
the taxes that the government requires. Here is another poem from the same series
that features it:C 1 5. 1 0
Summer, No. 35Picking water chestnut is bitter work,
the plow and hoe are useless.
His bloody fingers ooze crimson,
brittle and emaciated as a ghost.
He has no means to purchase land
so plants for now in water.
But recently whatever comes from the lake
is also subject to taxes.
[QSS 41:27.26004]四時田園雜興, 夏 (sì shí tián yuán zá xìng, xià)
pick water chestnut harsh bitter abandon plow hoe 采菱辛苦廢犁鉏 (căi líng xīn kŭ fèi lí chú)
bloody fingers flow crimson ghost substance withered 血指流丹鬼質枯 (xuè zhĭ liú dān guĭ zhì kū)
without means buy fields for now plant water 無力買田聊種水 (wú lì măi tián liáo zhòng shuĭ)
nearby come lake surface also collect taxes 近來湖面亦收租 (jìn lái hú miàn yì shōu zū)
[Tonal pattern Ia, see p. 171]
Several of the poems in the series depict the tax obligation as the overriding bur-
den in the peasants’ lives. Women stay up all night weaving silk that will be used
to help meet the tax obligation (no. 29). The grain that is finally harvested, with
exhausting labor, is said to go half to pay outstanding debts and half to pay taxes
(no. 41). In another poem, a peasant watches as the pure-white kernels of rice that
he has harvested are transferred from his boat to the government granary and is
glad to think that at least he has kept some of poorer quality, mixed with husks,
to keep his children from going hungry (no. 45). The corruption of local officials
is also broached in these poems, reference being made to the widespread prac-
tice of vastly undercounting the quantities of grain that the peasants submitted
to meet their obligation (no. 45). The series also touches on distinctions of social
class. One poem uses the Seventh Night Festival to present a contrast (no. 38). In