蔡文姬: 胡笳十八拍 Cai Wenji: Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute

蔡文姬(177-?) 是东漢代文學家和书法家蔡邕(AD 133-192)的女儿，博学有才，通音律和书法。
蔡文姬一生坎坷。汉末，兵荒马乱，蔡被胡兵所俘，在胡境住了十二年，嫁给匈奴左賢王，生二子。
因为蔡父蔡邕年老孤独，汉丞相曹操以重金给左賢王，将她赎还。回乡后，对还留在胡境内的二子思念不断，加上怀念儿时无忧无虑的生活，只有以诗来抒情。她的诗悲憤哀伤，反映她悲苦的一生。
今传她遗留诗三首。《悲愤诗》二篇，描述游牧生活。另一篇《胡笳十八拍》，反映痛苦一生和思子之情，虽然学者对这首诗是不是出自蔡之笔，还有争论。
这首诗直接和热情的反映了一个妇女的心声，这样的古诗是很不寻常的。直到现在，这首著名的曲调还是古琴演奏会中的名曲之一。
胡笳十八拍的第一拍：
我生之初尚无为，我生之后汉祚衰。
天不仁兮降乱离，地不仁兮使我逢此时。
干戈日寻兮道路危，民卒流亡兮共哀悲。
烟尘蔽野兮胡虏盛，志意乖兮节义亏。
对殊俗兮非我宜，遭恶辱兮当告谁？
笳一会兮琴一拍，心愤怨兮无人知。
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Cai Wenji (AD 177 - ?) was the daughter of Cai Yong (AD 133-192), a famous scholar and calligrapher of Eastern Han. She was a learned scholar, also proficient in music and calligraphy.
Cai Wenji had led a turbulent life. Towards the end of the Han era, the country was thrown into turmoil. Cai Wenji was captured by Hu troops and carried off to their city. She lived in the Hu territory for twelve years as the concubine of a Xiongnu prince, named Zuoxian and bore him two sons.
Sensing Cai Yong's loneliness, the Prime Minister Cao Cao sent precious gifts to Prince Zuoxian in exchange for Cai Wenji. However, she constantly longed for the two sons she left behind in the Hu region after returning to her homeland. She was also haunted by thoughts of her carefree childhood. Poetry was her consolation and her poems were noted for their sorrowful tone, parallel to her hard life.
Three poems are said to be written by her. Two named ‘Poem of Sorrow and Anger’ (悲憤詩) are narrative poems describing her life with the nomads. The third and most influential is the one that is known as ‘Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute’ (胡笳十八拍). The poem is a perfect reflection of her rough life and her deep yearning for her children, although its authorship is a perennial issue for scholarly debate.
The poem is unusual for early poetry because of its direct, passionately expressed identity of the woman’s voice. Until now, this famous melody is still one of the repertoires of Guqin concerts.
The first song:
"At the time of my birth, the land was at peace,

But later, the Han Dynasty fell into decline.

Heaven is unkind, allowing wars, suffering, separation;

Earth is unkind, that I should have to live at such a time.

Weapons of war are everywhere, making the roads perilous.

Soldiers and people fleeing to exile, suffering together.

The land, billowing clouds of smoke and dust, is a prisoner of the Hu.

Integrity and willpower have disappeared.

I cannot accept the vulgar barbarous customs,

Humiliated and abused, to whom can I turn?

I sing to my hujia and qin,

But no one knows my anger and my grief."