近现代 近现代 · 诗 Poem
送瘟神·其一
Seeing Off the Plague God (I)
绿水青山枉自多，华佗无奈小虫何！
千村薜荔人遗矢，万户萧疏鬼唱歌。
坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河。
牛郎欲问瘟神事，一样悲欢逐逝波。
A thousand villages overgrown with creeper, men voiding blood; ten thousand homes desolate, where ghosts sing.
Seated on the earth, we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the heavens, we gaze on a thousand rivers afar.
The Cowherd would ask about the Plague God; the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves.
Meaning
The poem laments that for ages schistosomiasis ravaged the land—green hills in vain, even the divine physician Hua Tuo helpless, villages overgrown and haunted by ghosts. Then the vision soars into cosmic perspective: seated, we circle the earth daily; in the heavens we see a thousand rivers. The Cowherd's question about the plague is answered—all such sorrow and joy drift away with the flowing waves, sorrowful yet transcendent, setting up the second poem's victory.
绿水青山白白地这么多（美好），连神医华佗也拿小小的血吸虫无可奈何！千万个村庄荒草蔓延、病人便血，万户人家萧条冷落，只听见鬼在唱歌。坐在地上，地球自转一天就行八万里；巡游太空，远远望见一千条银河。牛郎想问起瘟神的事，（回答是）一样的悲欢都随着流水逝去了。
Appreciation
A Seven-Lü that writes grief through joyful scene and reality through wild imagination: the couplet "green hills" against "Hua Tuo helpless," the creeper-and-ghost couplet picturing the calamity, the astronomical couplet rising to space, the myth couplet closing—four couplets from real to void, earth to heaven, reality to myth, with bizarre structure yet connected blood. It records the great struggle to eliminate schistosomiasis: mourning the thousand-year tragedy yet transcending it with cosmic and historical vision, sorrow without despair, desolate yet hopeful—the breadth of one who holds all people in mind.
【白话串讲】 毛泽东写《送瘟神·其一》：“绿水青山枉自多，华佗无奈小虫何”——血吸虫让华佗也无奈。“千村薜荔人遗矢，万户萧疏鬼唱歌”——“坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河”——“牛郎欲问瘟神事，一样悲欢逐逝波”——他写旧社会的苦。 【意象与手法】 七律以「乐景写哀、奇想写实」：首联「绿水青山」反衬「华佗无奈」，颔联以薜荔鬼歌直写惨状，颈联以天文意象飞升太空，尾联以神话问对收束，四联由实入虚、由地入天、由现实入神话，章法奇崛而血脉贯通。 【情感与主旨】 以诗记录新中国消灭血吸虫病的伟大斗争：既痛陈旧社会瘟神肆虐的千年悲剧，又以宇宙视野与历史眼光超越之，哀而不伤、苍凉含希望，见「以天下苍生为念」的伟人襟怀。 【名句点睛】 常考「坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河」以科学入诗的宏大想象，与「一样悲欢逐逝波」的沉痛旷达——一升一降，为「纸船明烛照天烧」的胜利作好铺垫。
Background
Mao Zedong's Two Seven-Lü·Seeing Off the Plague God was written on July 1, 1958, on the occasion of Jiangxi's Yujiang County eliminating schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis (anciently "gu poison," "big-belly disease") ravaged southern China for millennia; Yujiang began control in 1955 and in 1958 announced its basic elimination, a major victory in New China's public health history. Reading the People's Daily report that day in Hangzhou, Mao's thoughts flew: "sleepless at night, a gentle breeze, the morning sun at the window, gazing south, gladly took up the brush," writing the two Seven-Lü in one breath. The first writes the old society's calamity, the second the new society's joy, together called "Seeing Off the Plague God." The first opens with "green hills and clear waters," mourning the thousand-year tragedy, closing with "the Cowherd would ask about the Plague God; the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves," sorrowful yet hopeful, building force for the second's "spring willow branches in thousands." In short, the poem starts from one county's joy yet looks on a nation's thousand-year pain, from one spot to all under heaven, from reality to history—exactly the breadth of the poet's historical feeling when "gladly taking up the brush."
毛泽东《七律二首·送瘟神》写于1958年7月1日，时值江西省余江县消灭血吸虫病。血吸虫病（古称「蛊毒」「大肚子病」）在中国南方肆虐数千年，余江县自1955年开展防治，1958年宣布基本消灭血吸虫病，是新中国公共卫生史上的重大胜利。毛泽东当日在杭州读到《人民日报》报道余江灭螺消息，浮想联翩，「夜不能寐，微风拂煦，旭日临窗，遥望南天，欣然命笔」，一气写下两首七律。其一写旧社会血吸虫病造成的惨状，其二写新社会消灭瘟神的欢欣，合称《送瘟神》。此诗用典精妙、想象奇崛，融历史、现实、神话于一炉，是毛泽东诗词中思想性与艺术性高度统一的杰作。其一以「绿水青山」起笔，痛陈瘟神肆虐的千年悲剧，末以「牛郎欲问瘟神事，一样悲欢逐逝波」作结，沉痛中含希望，为第二首「春风杨柳万千条」的欢欣蓄势。要之，此诗起于余江一县之喜而放眼全国千年之痛，由一隅而天下、由现实而历史，正见诗人「欣然命笔」之际深广的历史情怀。
Art
This is a seven-character regulated verse; its outstanding art is the contrast structure of "writing grief through joyful scene, writing reality through wild imagination." The first couplet "green hills and clear waters are abundant in vain; even Hua Tuo could do nothing with the tiny worm" contrasts bright landscape with helpless grief—the hills are beautiful yet useless, even the divine Hua Tuo helpless against the tiny schistosome; "abundant in vain" writes the grief of human power's limit, the huge contrast of "tiny worm" and "Hua Tuo" shows the helplessness and irony. The second couplet "a thousand villages overgrown with creeper, men voiding blood; ten thousand homes desolate, where ghosts sing" directly pictures the stricken area with two dense images—creeper (wild grass) climbing the villages, men voiding blood (the disease's late stage), ten thousand homes desolate, only ghost-cry heard, typical "writing grief through scene." The third couplet "seated on the earth we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the heavens we gaze on a thousand rivers" turns sharply from ground to space, with earth's rotation (eighty thousand li) and galaxy patrol (a thousand rivers) writing the poet's vast perspective overlooking humankind, the imagination's high point. The fourth couplet "the Cowherd would ask about the Plague God; the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves" pulls from myth to reality, the Cowherd-Weaver legend mirroring the plague tragedy; "the same sorrows and joys" sums a thousand years. Four couplets from real to void, ground to space, reality to myth—bizarre yet connected.
此诗为七言律诗，艺术上最突出的是「以乐景写哀、以奇想写实」的对照结构。首联「绿水青山枉自多，华佗无奈小虫何」以明丽的山水反衬无奈的哀痛——山水自美而无济于事，神医华佗也拿小小血吸虫无可奈何，「枉自多」三字写尽人力不逮之悲，「小虫」与「华佗」的巨大反差尤见无力与讽刺；颔联「千村薜荔人遗矢，万户萧疏鬼唱歌」以两个密集的画面直写疫区惨状——薜荔（荒草）爬满村庄，病人遗矢（便血），万户萧疏，唯闻鬼哭，是典型的「以景寓悲」；颈联「坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河」笔锋陡转，由地面飞升太空，以地球自转（八万里）与银河巡览（一千河）的宏大意象，写出诗人超越时空俯瞰人间的浩大气魄，是全诗想象的最高点；尾联「牛郎欲问瘟神事，一样悲欢逐逝波」由神话拉回现实，牛郎织女的传说与瘟神的悲剧相映，「一样悲欢」四字总括千年沧桑。四联由实入虚、由地面入太空、由现实入神话，章法奇崛而血脉贯通。
Allusions
This poem's allusions are dense yet natural, a sum of classical Chinese cultural images. First, "Hua Tuo"—the Three Kingdoms physician, standing for all good doctors; "even Hua Tuo could do nothing with the tiny worm" writes both the ancient incurability of schistosomiasis and echoes Cao Cao killing Hua Tuo, the art of medicine lost, deepening "helpless." Second, "creeper" (bili)—from Chu Ci·Nine Songs·Mountain Ghost "if there is someone at the mountain's bend, clothed in creeper and with maidenhair," originally a lonely fragrant-plant image; here reversed to write wild grass overrunning villages, strong contrast. Third, "ghosts sing"—echoes Du Fu's "Military Wagons" "new ghosts vexed, old ghosts cry," writing human tragedy by ghost-cry. Fourth, "seated on the earth we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the heavens we gaze on a thousand rivers"—bringing astronomical knowledge (earth's rotation, the galaxy) into poetry, rare "scientific image" in classical verse, together with the Cowherd-Weaver (galaxy) legend, uniting myth and astronomy. Fifth, "Cowherd"—the Cowherd-Weaver myth; the Weaver, who spins, asks of human suffering, the poet answering "the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves," a mythical figure witnessing human change. The whole fuses medical canon, Chu Ci, Du Fu, astronomy, myth into one seamless whole—a model of Mao's "making the past serve the present."
此诗用典密集而自然，是中国古典文化意象的集大成。其一，「华佗」——三国名医，代指一切良医，「华佗无奈小虫何」既写血吸虫病自古无药可医，也暗用曹操杀华佗、医道失传的典故，深化「无奈」之意；其二，「薜荔」——出自《楚辞·九歌·山鬼》「若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝」，本是香草幽独之象，此处反用其意，写荒草蔓延村庄，以香草意象写荒芜之景，反差强烈；其三，「鬼唱歌」——暗用杜甫《兵车行》「新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭」，以鬼哭写人间惨剧；其四，「坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河」——以地球自转与银河系的天文知识入诗，是古典诗词中罕见的「科学意象」，兼用牛郎织女（银河）传说，使神话与天文合一；其五，「牛郎」——牛郎织女神话，织女本主纺织，故问人间疾苦，诗人答以「一样悲欢逐逝波」，以神话人物见证人间变迁。全诗熔医典、楚辞、杜诗、天文、神话于一炉，而浑然天成，是毛泽东诗词「古为今用」的典范。
Commentary
Seeing Off the Plague God (I) holds a special place in modern-contemporary Chinese poetry. In thought, it records in poetic form the great struggle to eliminate schistosomiasis, an artistic monument to "New China's public health victory"; the contrast of "green hills and clear waters are abundant in vain" with the second poem's "spring willow branches in thousands" constitutes historical witness of two eras, old and new. In art, it perfectly grafts classical form (Seven-Lü) onto modern content (schistosomiasis, earth's rotation, the satellite age); "seated on the earth we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the heavens we gaze on a thousand rivers" brings science into poetry with grand imagination, pioneering the "fusion of science and mystery" in classical verse. In influence, with Seven-Lü·Long March and Qin Yuan Chun·Snow it is a representative Mao lyric; lines like "even Hua Tuo could do nothing with the tiny worm" "the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves" widely spread as collective memory of an era. Re-read today, with schistosomiasis basically eliminated, we see both the suffering and struggle of then and the ruling party's original heart of taking the people's health to heart—a power beyond the age. Scholars often read it with Seven-Lü·Long March, one on military hardship, one on people's suffering, together showing Mao's complete theme of "holding all people in mind."
《送瘟神》其一在中国现当代诗歌史上地位特殊。就思想言，它以诗的形式记录了中国消灭血吸虫病的伟大斗争，是「新中国公共卫生胜利」的艺术丰碑，「绿水青山枉自多」与第二首「春风杨柳万千条」的对照，构成新旧社会两重天的历史见证；就艺术言，它实现了古典诗歌形式（七律）与现代生活内容（血吸虫病、地球自转、卫星时代）的完美嫁接，「坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河」以科学入诗而气魄宏大，开古典诗词「科玄合流」之先；就影响言，此诗与《七律·长征》《沁园春·雪》等并为毛泽东诗词代表作，其「华佗无奈小虫何」「一样悲欢逐逝波」等句广泛流传，成为特定历史时期的集体记忆。在血吸虫病已基本消除的今天重读此诗，既见当年的苦难与斗争，也见共产党人以人民健康为念的执政初心，具有超越时代的感染力。学者每将此诗与《七律·长征》并观，以为一写军事之难、一写民生之痛，合而观之，方见毛泽东诗词「以天下苍生为念」的完整主题。
Prosody
Line by line
绿水青山枉自多，华佗无奈小虫何！
Green hills and clear waters are abundant in vain; even Hua Tuo could do nothing with the tiny worm! (The first couplet sets the tone by stark contrast: "green hills and clear waters" is the beautiful south, yet "abundant in vain" is a head-on blow—the beauty saves no afflicted people; "even Hua Tuo could do nothing" writes the divine physician's helplessness against the "tiny worm," the huge contrast deepening the grief. Writing grief through joyful scene doubles the sorrow, laying the deepest groundwork for the second poem's victory—precisely because of millennia of "helplessness," eliminating the plague is great.)
绿水青山白白地这么多（美好），连神医华佗也拿小小的血吸虫无可奈何！
Green hills and clear waters are all in vain; Hua Tuo himself was helpless against the tiny worm!
首联以鲜明的对照为全诗定调。「绿水青山」是江南美好的自然景象，「枉自多」三字却当头棒喝——山水再美，也救不了染病的人民，「枉」字写出美景的无用与徒然；「华佗无奈小虫何」更进一层：神医华佗代表几千年来人类医术的极限，「无奈」二字写尽其束手无策，而「小虫」（血吸虫）以「小」字轻写，愈小愈见其凶险难治，以「华佗」对「小虫」，巨大的反差中透着深沉的悲哀。两句一写景、一写人，一美一惨，以乐景写哀情，倍增其哀，为全篇定下沉痛的基调，也为第二首「送瘟神」的胜利作了最深的铺垫——正因为「无奈」了几千年，消灭瘟神才显其伟大。
The worm. Green hills and clear waters are all in vain; Hua Tuo himself was helpless against the tiny worm! The all-in-vain green hills and the Hua Tuo helpless against the tiny worm are the opening. To have been helpless against the worm would be a helplessness; the green-hills-and-clear-waters-are-all-in-vain-hua-tuo-himself-was-helpless-against-the-tiny-worm is the helplessness.
千村薜荔人遗矢，万户萧疏鬼唱歌。
A thousand villages overgrown with creeper, men voiding blood; ten thousand homes desolate, where ghosts sing. (The second couplet directly pictures the stricken area with two shocking images, the most dreadful sight: "thousand villages creeper" writes desolation—creeper, a Chu Ci fragrant-plant image, here wild grass overrunning, men gone; "men voiding blood" plainly writes the disease's late-stage misery, "history-poem" brush unflinching; "ten thousand homes desolate, ghosts sing" echoes Du Fu's "new ghosts vexed, old ghosts cry," writing the human by the ghost, eerie. From village to home, man to ghost, the millennium's suffering is pushed to the extreme, building tension for the second poem's "paper boat, bright candle, burning the sky.")
千万个村庄荒草蔓延、病人便血，万户人家萧条冷落，只听见鬼在唱歌。
A thousand villages overgrown, men voiding excrement; ten thousand homes desolate, ghosts singing.
颔联以两个惊心动魄的画面直写疫区惨状，是全诗最触目惊心处。「千村薜荔」写村庄荒芜——薜荔本是《楚辞》中幽人隐士的香草意象，此处却写野草疯长、人烟断绝，以「香草」写「荒芜」，反差奇崛；「人遗矢」直写血吸虫病晚期的惨状（便血），不避俗恶，以最坦白的笔写最惨烈的病痛，是「诗史」笔法；「万户萧疏鬼唱歌」以「万户」对「千村」，「萧疏」写人烟稀少，「鬼唱歌」暗用杜甫「新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭」，以鬼哭写人间，阴气森森。四句由村及户、由人及鬼，层层推进，把千年血吸虫病的苦难写到极致，正是为第二首「纸船明烛照天烧」的送瘟狂欢蓄满张力。
The villages. A thousand villages overgrown, men voiding excrement; ten thousand homes desolate, ghosts singing. The overgrown villages and the desolate homes with ghosts singing are the grim scene. To have sung the ghosts would be a singing; the a-thousand-villages-overgrown-men-voiding-excrement-ten-thousand-homes-desolate-ghosts-singing is the singing.
坐地日行八万里，巡天遥看一千河。
Seated on the earth, we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the heavens, we gaze on a thousand rivers afar. (The third couplet is the imagination's peak, the brush rising from ground to space: "seated on the earth we travel eighty thousand li a day" writes earth's rotation—equator ~40,000 km (80,000 Chinese li), man sitting still yet traveling with earth; "patrolling the heavens we gaze on a thousand rivers" writes cosmic patrol—"a thousand rivers" both the galaxy's many star-rivers and the extreme expansion of the "river" image (from earth's rivers to heaven's). The two lines antithetical, "seated earth" vs "patrol heaven," "day travel" vs "gaze afar," "eighty thousand li" vs "a thousand rivers," space-time interlaced, real and void born together. The deep meaning: the poet transcends personal sorrow and local suffering, overlooking humankind from cosmic height, providing the vast view for the fourth couplet's deep sigh—placing the millennium's plague tragedy in infinite space-time, sorrow without despair, grand.)
坐在地上，地球自转一天就行八万里；巡游太空，远远望见一千条银河。
Sitting on the earth, we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the sky, we gaze at a thousand rivers.
颈联是全诗想象力的巅峰，笔锋由地面陡然升入太空。「坐地日行八万里」写地球自转——赤道周长约四万公里（八万华里），人坐地不动而随地球日行八万里，以科学常识入诗而气魄宏大；「巡天遥看一千河」写巡游宇宙——「一千河」既是银河系众多星河的写实，也是「河」意象的极致铺展（由地上的河升华为天上的河）。两句对仗工整，「坐地」对「巡天」、「日行」对「遥看」、「八万里」对「一千河」，时空交错、虚实相生。此联的深意在于：诗人超越了个人的悲欢与一地的苦难，站在宇宙的高度俯瞰人间，为尾联「一样悲欢逐逝波」的深沉咏叹提供了宏阔的视野——把千年的瘟神悲剧放进无限的时空坐标中审视，哀而不伤，气魄雄浑。
The rivers. Sitting on the earth, we travel eighty thousand li a day; patrolling the sky, we gaze at a thousand rivers. The eighty-thousand-li daily ride and the thousand rivers gazed at from the sky are the ascent. To have traveled eighty thousand li would be a traveling; the sitting-on-the-earth-we-travel-eighty-thousand-li-a-day-patrolling-the-sky-we-gaze-at-a-thousand-rivers is the traveling.
牛郎欲问瘟神事，一样悲欢逐逝波。
The Cowherd would ask about the Plague God; the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves. (The fourth couplet falls from space-myth to human reality, closing the poem: "Cowherd" is the laborer image of the galaxy myth, "would ask about the Plague God"—even the heavenly Cowherd cares about human plague, drawing the myth figure as earthly witness, bizarre conception; "the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves" is the poet's answer: for millennia, human sorrow and joy pass like flowing water, the plague's ravage one after another, sorrow and joy alternating yet suffering unended. The deep meaning: "drift away with the passing waves" writes history's merciless flow (sorrows and joys all past) yet hints new hope (after the passing waves, the new era comes), transitioning emotionally for the second poem's total victory. Closing by myth question, sorrowful yet transcendent, desolate yet hopeful—a "leopard-tail" ending.)
牛郎想问起瘟神的事，（回答是）一样的悲欢都随着流水逝去了。
If the Cowherd asks of the Plague God, the same joys and sorrows drift away on the passing waves.
尾联由太空神话落回人间现实，收束全诗。「牛郎」是银河神话中的劳动者形象，「欲问瘟神事」——天上的牛郎也关心人间的瘟疫，把神话人物拉来作人间的见证人，构思奇崛；「一样悲欢逐逝波」是诗人的回答：千百年来，人间的悲欢就像流水一样不断逝去，瘟神的肆虐一茬接一茬，悲欢轮替而苦难未绝。此句的深意在于：「逐逝波」三字既写历史的无情流逝（悲欢都已过去），也暗含新生的希望（逝波之后，新时代到来），为第二首「借问瘟君欲何往，纸船明烛照天烧」的彻底胜利作好了情绪上的过渡。以神话问对收束全诗，沉痛中含旷达，苍凉中寓希望，是「豹尾」式的结尾。
The waves. If the Cowherd asks of the Plague God, the same joys and sorrows drift away on the passing waves. The Cowherd asking and the same-joys-and-sorrows-on-the-passing-waves are the close. To have asked the Cowherd would be a question; the if-the-cowherd-asks-of-the-plague-god-the-same-joys-and-sorrows-drift-away-on-the-passing-waves is the question.
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Seven-Lü·Long March "the Red Army fears not the trials of the long march, ten thousand rivers and thousand mountains only as play" and Seeing Off the Plague God (I) are both representative Mao Seven-Lü, both writing great events in the Seven-Lü form, both with the spirit "small things for the large, heavy handled lightly": the Long March poem writes mountains as "the Five Ridges wind like fine ripples," the plague poem writes the epidemic as a "tiny worm," both making huge difficulty seem light. The difference: the Long March writes the victory of military expedition, high in tone, "more joy in the thousand-li snow of Min Mountain"; the plague poem (I) writes the millennium's plague suffering, sinking in tone, "the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves." Read together, they show the two faces of Mao's poetry—"grand and compassionate"—and how the traditional Seven-Lü form effortlessly carries revolutionary narrative in his hands.
《七律·长征》「红军不怕远征难，万水千山只等闲」与《送瘟神》其一同属毛泽东七律代表作，同以七律形式写重大事件，同具「以小儿大、举重若轻」的气魄：长征诗以「五岭逶迤腾细浪」写山，送瘟神以「小虫」写疫，皆把巨大的困难写得举重若轻。差异在：长征写军事远征的胜利，基调高昂，「更喜岷山千里雪」；送瘟神其一写千年瘟神的苦难，基调沉郁，「一样悲欢逐逝波」。二诗合观，可见毛泽东诗词「雄浑与悲悯并存」的两副面孔，也可见七律这一传统形式在他手中如何自如地承载革命叙事。
兵车行 Military Wagons 杜甫 · 同以「鬼哭」写人间惨剧，一写兵祸一写瘟疫，诗史传统的一脉相承 Both write human tragedy by "ghost-cry," one war one plague, the "history-poem" tradition continuingDu Fu's "Military Wagons" "new ghosts vexed, old ghosts cry, in the gloomy rain they whimper" and Seeing Off the Plague God (I) "ten thousand homes desolate, where ghosts sing" both write human tragedy by the "ghost-cry" image, one the scourge of war, one the scourge of plague, both extreme brushes of "writing the human by the ghost." The difference: Du Fu, an onlooker's compassion, writes "history-poem"—"clutching clothes, stamping feet, blocking the road in tears," sorrowful yet helpless; Mao, a master's boldness, writes "epic"—though writing the millennium pain of "even Hua Tuo could do nothing with the tiny worm," he transcends it with the cosmic view of "seated on the earth we travel eighty thousand li a day" and the historical eye of "the same sorrows and joys drift away with the passing waves," sorrow not sunk. The two poems, twelve hundred years apart, both use the ghost-cry image, exactly showing the continuation and sublimation of China's poetry "compassion for the people" tradition from Du Fu to Mao.
杜甫《兵车行》「新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭，天阴雨湿声啾啾」与《送瘟神》其一「万户萧疏鬼唱歌」同以「鬼哭」意象写人间惨剧，一写征战之祸，一写瘟疫之灾，皆是「以鬼写人」的极端笔法。差异在：杜甫以旁观者的悲悯写「诗史」，「牵衣顿足拦道哭」，沉痛而无奈；毛泽东以主人的气魄写「史诗」，虽写「华佗无奈小虫何」的千年之痛，却以「坐地日行八万里」的宇宙视野和「一样悲欢逐逝波」的历史眼光超越之，悲而不伤。二诗相隔一千二百年，同用鬼哭意象，恰见中国诗歌「悯民」传统由杜甫到毛泽东的延续与升华。