菩萨蛮 寄女伴
寒风料峭侵窗户，垂帘懒向回廊步。
月色入高楼，相思两处愁。
无边家国事，并入双蛾翠。
若遇早梅开，一枝应寄来！
自题小照（男装）
俨然在望此何人？俠骨前生悔寄身。
过世形骸原是幻，未來景界却疑真。
相逢恨晚情应集，仰屋嗟时气益振。
他日见余旧时友，为言今已扫浮尘。
有怀 ——游日本时作
日月无光天地昏，
沉沉女界有谁援？
钗环典质浮沧海，
骨肉分离出玉门。
放足湔除千载毒，
热心唤起百花魂。
可怜一幅鲛绡帕，
半是血痕半泪痕！
日人石井君索和即用原韵
漫云女子不英雄，
万里乘风独向东。
诗思一帆海空阔，
梦魂三岛月玲珑。
铜驼已陷悲回首，
汗马终惭未有功。
如许伤心家国恨，
那堪客里度春风！
对酒
不惜千金买宝刀，貂裘换酒也堪豪。
一腔热血勤珍重，洒去犹能化碧涛。
五首诗
秋瑾
Listen to the original read by the translator:
Qiu Jin’s poetry is often taught through the lens of revolutionary narratives and history, which has led her to be overlooked by literary scholars and translators alike. Her work follows the formal structure and rules of older poems written in Classical Chinese while simultaneously making use of modern vernacular Chinese, so her poems can be read as an example of the literature that marks the pivotal transition period between these two languages. The five poems that I have chosen to translate were all written relatively early in Qiu Jin’s creative career. The first poem subverts gender expectations by showing a narrator who is located in the home sphere, yet is concerned about the troubles of the nation. The second poem explores Qiu Jin’s complex relationship with gender identity and cross-dressing. The last three poems were all written around the time she travelled to Japan to study abroad, a pivotal period in her life when she started actively taking part in feminist activism and planning a revolution against the Qing dynasty. Together, these five poems demonstrate Qiu Jin’s development as a poet and the range of themes she is interested in, such as strong female friendships, gender identity, the role of women in modern China, and the heroic code.
Qiu Jin lived from 1875–1907 and was a Chinese writer, revolutionary, and feminist. Defying the gender expectations of her time, she grew up learning martial arts, sword-fighting, and horseback riding, and also acquired a traditional scholarly education. Later, she connected with other activists of China’s feminist movement, studied abroad in Japan, and returned home to join a revolution against the oppressive imperial Qing dynasty government and for women’s rights. When the uprising against the Qing dynasty that Qiu Jin took part in failed, she died a martyr and became the best-known figure of China’s early feminist movement.
Yilin Wang is a writer, editor, and Chinese-English translator. Her fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in Clarkesworld, The Malahat Review, Arc Poetry, Grain, Contemporary Verse 2, carte blanche, The Best of Abyss & Apex, The Tyee, and elsewhere. Her Chinese-to-English short fiction and poetry translations have appeared in Pathlight: New Chinese Writing and Samovar respectively, while her English-to-Chinese poetry translations are forthcoming in Living Hyphen. Yilin recently completed her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Clarion West Writers Workshop 2020/2021.
