Blue & White Porcelain 《青花瓷》- A song enticing us to pause

Gisela Jia

Thanksgiving Day, the second day of my Thanksgiving break.  

"We're in full control (of the meal). You just need to cook the cranberry sauce." 

With that remark, I left home in the morning. I wanted to do something very small. One of my students is learning flute. For her, I wanted to find a few video links of Chinese musicians playing flute.

Very quickly I became immersed in flute music. So many good artists and so much good music. Here comes Lily playing Blue & White Porcelain 《青花瓷》.  It was a song released in 2007 sung by Jay Chou.

Let me share this link with my student. So I thought.  I am sure she will like it and therefore she will ask for its lyrics. Let me make a song sheet for her. So I decided. 

I copied the lyrics, and added the pinyin. But the language would be too difficult for the student. So I looked for existing translations. I've been listening to this song for years but never bothered to fully digest the lyrics. The need to distinguish the quality of the many translation versions made me think through each line and each word. Before I know it, one day is gone!

Here I share with you what I have found. If you have time, read it. If not, you may simply click the music links to listen to the music and singing.

What is Blue & White Porcelain? Here are a few examples.

What is this song about? Everyone, including the lyric writer, says that it tells a subtle but intense love story, using blue & white porcelain as a metaphor. 

The song certainly made many more Chinese people aware of Blue and White Porcelain - 

“我在《百家讲坛》讲了五十多课，也不顶周杰伦唱一首《青花瓷》。” - 马未都，收藏家、古董鉴赏家

"My over 50 lectures on Bai Jia Jiang Tan did not do as much as this one song by Jay Chou." - Ma WeiDu, Collector, Antique Connoisseur

The lyrics, written by the Taiwan based Hakka writer Fang Wenshan, received raving reviews from accomplished Chinese writers -

“用中文写歌词，纯以美来说，文山是头一把。‘天青色在等烟雨而我在等你，炊烟袅袅升起隔江千万里’。 天哪，把中文之美写到这个地步，文山是不输李商隐、李煜的。” -高小松

"Writing lyrics in Chinese, just for the beauty of language, Wen Shan (the lyric write) is No.1. 'The Sky -Blue-Hue waits for the misty rain (this special color only appears in the sky after a certain type of rain), just like I am waiting for you. The spiral rising smoke from the other side of the river sets us a thousand miles apart.' Oh my! When you create Chinese sentences like these, you put yourself in the same league as Li Shanying and Liyu. (Both were top ancient Chinese poets.)

The song was valued by Chinese educators so much that its language and content were tested in the National College Entrance exams.

I choose to see this song as a modern human's intense longing for something beautiful that seems to be so close by but in fact unreachable because of time, a time already passed or yet to come.

Somehow, the lyrics and music cause listeners to pause (after all, you are imagining yourself staring at a piece of blue & white porcelain and seeing so much in it).  

I feel a pause, the pause needed to relate to the past, to imagine the future, the pause needed when children shout at me "AI made it!" as I try to show them some arts and music in my Chinese classes, and the pause needed when I had to witness a middle school teacher holding a plastic bottle talking to his 5th graders about how plastic bottles even recycled never gets to leave the earth.  

The song suppresses my instinct to act and react. It forces me to stop, look, think and hopefully, react with much more power sometime later. 

Before I go back home to accompany my daughter to watch the Thanksgiving parade, here are for you to enjoy.

Flute by Lily

Song + Lyric Writer describes his inspirations

Singing by college students at  graduation ceremony

Here are the lyrics with pinyin and English translation. If you thoroughly understand the lyrics in Chinese, try to sing it. If not, still try to sing it. It's really fun to utter these dozens of syllables and know that these sounds magically transcend listeners into a wondrous world.

Title: 青花瓷 Music:  周杰伦 Lyrics : 方文山	Blue & White Porcelain Jay Chou Fang Wen Shan
Stanza 1 素胚勾勒出青花 笔锋浓转淡 瓶身描绘的牡丹 一如妳初妆 冉冉檀香透过窗 心事我了然 宣纸上走笔至此 搁一半	Stanza 1 sù pēi​ gōu ​lè​ chū​ qīng ​huā​ bǐ ​fēng​ nóng​ zhuǎn​ dàn​ píng​ shēn​ miáo ​huì​ de​ mǔ ​dan yī ​rú​ nǐ​ chū​ zhuāng​ rǎn​ rǎn​  tán​ xiāng​ tòu ​guò​ chuāng​ xīn ​shì​ wǒ​ liǎo ​rán​ xuān ​zhǐ​ shàng​ zǒu​ bǐ​ zhì ​cǐ​ gé​ yī bàn​
釉色渲染仕女图 韵味被私藏 而妳嫣然的一笑 如含苞待放 妳的美一缕飘散 去到我去不了 的地方	yòu​ sè xuàn ​rǎn​ shì ​nǚ​ tú​ yùn ​wèi​ bèi​ sī ​cáng​ ér nǐ​ yān ​rán​ dì​ yī​ xiào​ rú​ hán ​bāo​ dài ​fàng​ nǐ​ de měi​ yī​ lǚ​ piāo ​sàn qù​ dào​ wǒ ​qù bù​ liǎo de dì​ fāng​
Chorus 天青色等烟雨 而我在等妳 炊烟袅袅升起 隔江千万里 在瓶底书汉隶仿 前朝的飘逸 就当我为遇见 妳伏笔	Chorus tiān​ qīng ​sè​ děng​ yān ​yǔ​ ér​ wǒ​ zài děng​ nǐ​ chuī ​yān​ niǎo ​niǎo​ shēng ​qǐ gé jiāng​ qiān​ Wàn ​lǐ​ zài​ píng dǐ​ shū​ hàn​ lì​ fǎng​ qián ​cháo​ de​ piāo ​yì​ jiù​  dāng wǒ wèi​ yù​ jiàn nǐ fú ​bǐ​
天青色等烟雨 而我在等妳 月色被打捞起 晕开了结局 如传世的青花瓷 自顾自美丽 妳眼带笑意	tiān​ qīng ​sè​ děng​ yān ​yǔ​ ér​ wǒ​ zài děng​ nǐ​ yuè ​sè​ bèi​ dǎ ​lāo​ qǐ​ yùn​ kāi​ liǎo jié ​jú​  rú​ chuán ​shì​ de qīng ​huā ​cí​ zì ​gù ​zì​ měi ​lì​ nǐ yǎn​ dài​ xiào ​yì​
Stanza 2 色白花青的锦鲤 跃然于碗底 临摹宋体落款时 却惦记着妳 妳隐藏在窑烧里 千年的秘密 极细腻犹如 绣花针落地	Stanza 2 sè bái​ huā​ qīng​ de jǐn ​lǐ yuè ​rán​ yú​ wǎn​ dǐ​ lín ​mó​ sòng ​tǐ​ luò ​kuǎn​ shí què​ diàn ​jì​ zhe nǐ​ nǐ​ yǐn ​cáng​ zài yáo shāo​ lǐ qiān​ nián​ de​ mì ​mì​ jí​ xì ​nì​ yóu ​rú​ xiù huā​ zhēn​ luò ​dì​
帘外芭蕉惹骤雨 门环惹铜绿 而我路过那江南 小镇惹了妳 在泼墨山水画里 妳从墨色深处被隐去	lián​ wài​ bā ​jiāo​ rě​ zhòu ​yǔ​ mén ​huán​ rě​ tóng​ lǜ​ ér​ wǒ​ lù ​guò​ nà​ Jiāng ​nán xiǎo​ zhèn​ rě​ le nǐ​ zài​ pō​ mò​ shān ​shuǐ ​huà​ lǐ nǐ​ cóng mò​ sè shēn ​chù​ bèi​ yǐn qù​
Repeat Chorus Twice	Repeat Chorus Twice

English Translation 

By Hesitant Prize Fighter

Stanza 1
The plain outlines from the porcelain,  with its strong and weak strokes combined
The peony painted on it is as beautiful as you
The whiff of incense through the window carries worries which i understood
I paused the brush strokes which kept us apart.

The glazing on your portrait hides your beautiful charm.
But your sweet smile bloom from within like a flower
Your beauty dissipates like smoke
it entered a place which I cannot follow

Chorus
Within its blue misty drizzle I am waiting for you
Through its spiral smoke & rivers, we are a thousand miles apart
That little stroke at the bottom of that vase
Is a foreshadow of our meeting that is to come

Within its blue misty drizzle I am still waiting for you
As the moon light washes ashore the remnant of our meeting
As our precious porcelain retains her beauty
Your eyes carries your smiles

Stanza 2
A painted white koi came alive at the bottom of the dish
But its ancient inscription were longing for you.
The eons of secrets hidden within the kiln
Remain as silent as an embroidery pin falling

The palm leaves by the curtain stirs up showers, attracting rust on the door knockers

As I pass that little town in Jiang Nan, I  attracted you 

Within the coarse ink of that beautiful landscape painting

You are hidden within the depths of its brushstrokes