宋 Song · 诗 Poem
送沈生昆弟随侍之博白四绝句 其一
Seeing Off the Shen Brothers Accompanying Their Father to Bobai: Four Quatrains, No. 1
炎方景象异中原，海气昏昏杂瘴烟。
今日荒夷成雅俗，薰风南播自妫弦。
Sea vapors hang dim and muddled, mingling with miasmic mist.
Today the wilds of the uncultured have become elegant custom:
The warm south breeze, wafting southward, comes from Gui's zither strings.
Meaning
The poet reassures two young brothers traveling with their father to remote Bobai: although the tropical south differs from the Central Plain and its miasmic sea mists are forbidding, by now that once-uncultivated borderland has acquired the customs of civilized learning. The warm south wind blowing there is the very breeze that once carried the moral music of Emperor Shun's zither.
南方炎热之地的景象，与中原大不相同：海上湿热的水气终日昏昏蒙蒙，其中还混杂着人们最怕的瘴疫之烟。然而不必因此心生畏惧——到了今天，那昔日被视为荒远蛮夷的地方，也已渐渐养成了诗书礼乐的风气；那自南方吹来的和暖薰风，原本就是从虞舜五弦琴上歌出的《南风》之音一路传播过来的。你们兄弟随侍父亲远赴博白，去的虽是炎荒之地，却并非无教化之乡，且把这一层放宽心去。
Appreciation
The poem works by first building up the fearful geography of the south, then dissolving that fear through the transforming power of civilization. Lines one and two present the far south as a place of oppressive sea vapors and miasmic smoke, using an 'alien' scene to unsettle the reader. The third line pivots on 'today,' shifting from space to time: the old 'wild border' has 'become elegant custom.' The fourth line answers the miasmic wind with the 'warm south breeze' of Shun's zither, replacing a hostile atmosphere with a nurturing moral one. The whole quatrain thus moves from dread to reassurance without a single explicit word of consolation.
【白话串讲】 张方平送沈家兄弟去博白：“炎方景象异中原，海气昏昏杂瘴烟”——南方多瘴气。“今日荒夷成雅俗，薰风南播自妫弦”——他写岭南。 【意象与手法】此诗用的是先抑后扬、以文明破地理之畏的写法。『海气』『瘴烟』是唐宋士人谈岭南时最常搬出的两样恐怖，诗人不回避，反而一起摆在开头，让读者先受一层压；第三句『今日』二字忽作时间的转折，把话头从空间的隔绝拉到历史的推移；第四句再以『薰风』接住『瘴烟』，同是南方之风，一为病气，一为德教，两个风的意象在同一方位上对撞，抑扬的力道全在此处。绝句只四句，却完成了一次由畏到安的心理调转。 【情感与主旨】这是送人远赴岭南任所而作，所送者是随父赴官的沈氏兄弟，故语气兼有长者的抚慰与劝勉。诗人不作『瘴江收骨』一类的悲声，也不空说前程可喜，而是从教化流布的角度给出一个可信的宽解：博白虽远，已在王化之内；南风虽自炎方来，其源却在圣王之琴。对少年人说远行，最要紧的是把畏惧化为期待，此诗正是这样落笔的。 【名句点睛】『今日荒夷成雅俗，薰风南播自妫弦』两句是全篇转关。上句『成』字下得平实而有分量，把数百年间岭南由荒服入文教的过程压在一字之中；下句以虞舜之弦为南风之本，使一句地理之语忽有上古的深度，是宋人以经史入诗而不觉其涩的好例。首句『炎方景象异中原』看似寻常叙述，但一个『异』字先立标尺，后三句的抑扬皆由此生。
Background
Zhang Fangping (1007–1091), courtesy name Andao, was a native of Songcheng, Yingtian Prefecture (modern Shangqiu, Henan). A celebrated official and man of learning, he served in high posts under the Northern Song, including as a councilor under Emperor Shenzong. Bobai, in his day part of Baizhou in Guangnan, was regarded by many Song officials as a miasmic frontier. This poem is the first of a set of four quatrains sent to the Shen brothers, who were accompanying their father to his post there. Rather than repeating conventional fears of the southern miasma, Zhang emphasizes the civilizing transformation of the region, reflecting both his confidence in state education and his historical awareness.
张方平（一〇〇七—一〇九一），字安道，晚号乐全居士，应天府宋城（今河南商丘）人。少年时家贫无书，借人《史记》《汉书》读之，旬日便还，自谓已得其详，记诵之力震动乡里。景祐元年举茂材异等，又中贤良方正，历知谏院、知制诰、翰林学士、御史中丞、三司使，神宗朝拜参知政事，两度出守益州，为政宽简，蜀人图其像于净众寺以祀。晚年不附新法，以太子少师致仕，谥文定，苏轼编次其遗文为《乐全集》。此诗题作《送沈生昆弟随侍之博白四绝句》，此为第一首。博白在宋代属白州，即今广西玉林一带，为岭南极边之地，宋人谈及此处，率以『瘴乡』视之，官吏得除广南者往往视同谪降，士人送行也多作生死之语。沈氏兄弟是随其父赴任，所谓『随侍』，即子弟侍从父辈之官，年纪当尚轻。张方平既知岭南风土之实，又深谙朝廷开边置县、以文教移风的成效——宋代广南诸州已渐立学、兴科举，故不肯以流俗的畏怖之词相送，而从教化流布立说。此诗的宽解之意，正建立在这一层现实认识之上，不是敷衍的空话。
Art
The art lies in a perfectly controlled four-line turn. The first line sets up a comparison with the 'Central Plain'; the second presses into sensory detail (the dim, stifling sea vapors thick with miasma). The third line pivots with 'today' at the very start, compressing centuries of cultural change into the single word 'become' (cheng). The final line reimagines the same southern wind as the 'warm south breeze' originating from Shun's zither, thus converting a geographical fear into a moral assurance. The diction is plain but charged: 'different' (yi) establishes the pivot, 'mixed' (za) makes the miasma intimate, 'become' (cheng) carries historical weight, and 'comes from' (zi) traces a civilizational origin. The poem achieves its consolation without a single direct word of comfort.
四句之中作了一个完整的抑扬回旋，是绝句里最见分寸的一种结构。首句『异』字定下基调，把中原与炎方摆成两个世界；次句不写别的，专写空气——『昏昏』二字既写视觉之蒙，又写体感之闷，再缀『杂瘴烟』三字，把一种看不见的危险掺进可见的湿气里，畏惧感因此落到实处而非概念。第三句以『今日』二字硬转，时间一进来，空间的绝望便松动了；『荒夷』与『雅俗』在一句之内对峙，中间只用一个『成』字过渡，转变的漫长被极度压缩，语气反显从容。末句最见巧思：仍写南方之风，却由『瘴烟』换作『薰风』，同一风向而性质全变，前两句堆起的压抑至此被一股暖气吹散；再以『自妫弦』三字为这股风追一个上古的源头，使全诗的立足点由地理升到文明。通篇不著一句安慰语，安慰之意已足，是不说破而意自到的手法。再就造语论，此诗几乎不用华藻，通篇以「炎方」「海气」「瘴烟」「荒夷」「雅俗」「薰风」等大词相承，却无一字浮泛：首句「异」字立骨，次句「昏昏」「杂」写实，三句「成」字收千年之变，四句「自」字溯文明之源，字字皆有来历与分量。其「薰风」「妫弦」一联，更是全篇画龙点睛处——以《南风》之典，把岭南的自然风向转写为王化南渐的象征，使一首送行之诗由地理叙述升华为文明史的观照，立意之高，非徒慰行者所能限。就句法言，七言四句之间，前两句写「空间之畏」，后两句写「时间之解」，以「今日」二字作枢纽，完成一次时空坐标的转换，遂使畏惧消解于历史的推进之中。这种以「时间」化解「空间」的构思，是宋人理性精神的体现，亦是张方平深于史识、明于治道的本色。
Allusions
The key allusion is to 'Shao' (妫), the surname of the legendary sage-king Shun. According to the 'Record of Music,' Shun played a five-stringed zither and sang the 'South Wind' (Nanfeng), a song of gentle moral influence. The 'south breeze' (xunfeng) was understood as a warm wind that nourishes all things. Zhang Fangping exploits this allusion to identify the wind blowing across Bobai with the very wind of Shun's virtuous music, thus turning the miasmic south wind into a sign of the southward spread of civilization. The terms 'wild border' (huangyi) and 'elegant custom' (yasu) further evoke the ancient Nine Provinces system and the Confucian ideal of refinement.
此诗用典不多，却都用在筋节上。『炎方』本为古人对南方的通称，取五行南方属火之义，汉魏以来即用以指交广一带。『海气』『瘴烟』并非纯粹的文学想象，唐宋人记岭南风土，多言春夏之交草木郁蒸、山川出瘴，韩愈、柳宗元诸家贬谪之作已把它写成一种固定的畏怖意象，此处沿用而不加铺张，只作反面的衬托。『荒夷』二字含古代九服之说，中原之外为荒服，其民曰夷，用来指博白的旧观。『雅俗』之『雅』则从《诗》之风雅立言，指诗书礼乐之教，与『荒夷』恰成两极。最重要的是末句的『薰风』与『妫弦』：薰风即南风，古以为长养万物之和风；『妫』是虞舜之姓，《礼记·乐记》载舜作五弦之琴以歌《南风》，后世遂以南风之歌为舜德化民的象征。诗人把眼前从岭南吹来的暖风，指认为舜琴上那支《南风》之曲的余响，于是自然界的风与政教之风合成一体，『南播』二字既写风的方向，也写王化自北而南的流布。一个『自』字把二者的因果扣紧，读来毫不牵强，正是宋人以经义入诗的常法。
Commentary
Zhang Fangping's poem belongs to a Song-dynasty tradition that treats even the far south with reason and optimism rather than dread. Unlike Han Yu's famous cry of dying in the miasmic river, Zhang refuses to see the south as a death sentence. Instead, he views Bobai as already touched by the transformative power of Confucian civilization, a view supported by the historical reality of Song-era schools and examinations in Guangnan. The poem's strength lies in its calm, measured tone: the first two lines admit the genuine strangeness of the tropics, but the last two lines offer a deeper order behind that strangeness. This is not empty consolation but a quiet confidence in the enduring reach of Chinese culture. It also exemplifies the Song penchant for turning classical precedents into a contemporary argument, making the poem both a personal farewell and a miniature essay on civilization.
张方平的诗，历来论者以气骨胜、不事雕镂相称，他的长处在能把政事阅历与经史之学化入寻常题目，使赠送之作不落套语。此诗可为一证。宋人写岭南，大宗是贬谪的悲声，韩愈『好收吾骨瘴江边』一路的调子影响极深，后来者往往未到其地先作愁语；张方平偏在同一意象上翻转，以『薰风』抵『瘴烟』，以『雅俗』销『荒夷』，把送行诗从哀矜写成开阔，这与他一生留意边地经略、深信文教可以移风的立场是一致的。就体格而论，此诗合于宋人绝句『三句转、四句结』的常度，而转得不露痕迹，结得有来历，无一字浮辞。若与集中赠人的其他篇什并看，可知他遇少年后进最喜作勉励语，落笔总要给对方留一条向上的路，不肯以老成之态压人。这类作品在《乐全集》中数量不少，其价值不专在词章，也在于保存了北宋士人对南方边州风土人文的一种实感与判断。若以诗学批评观之，此诗足证宋人绝句「以议论为诗、以学问为诗」而能不失情致：通篇看似冷静说理，实则句句是对沈氏兄弟的宽解，理语之下自有温度。宋人写岭南，除贬谪之悲外，亦有「岭南处处见中原」一路，如苏轼「不辞长作岭南人」、秦观「郴江幸自绕郴山」，皆于流寓中求安顿；张方平此诗未至其地而先以「雅俗」「薰风」相慰，眼光更显超前。就文献价值言，诗中「博白」「白州」与「荒夷成雅俗」之语，为后世保留了北宋广南边州设学兴教、移风易俗的历史印记，可与《宋史·地理志》《舆地纪胜》所载互证。故论其诗，不当以寻常赠别目之，而应视为一篇以诗写史的边州礼赞，其气象之开张、识见之通达，在《乐全集》中亦属上乘。
Prosody
Line by line
炎方景象异中原，
The hot-region scene of the south is different from that of the Central Plain: this line establishes a plain contrast and leaves the evaluation open.
南方炎热之地的景象，与中原大不相同。
The sights of the fiery south are unlike the central plain,
起句用最平实的语序摆出一个事实判断，不带感情色彩，却已埋下全篇的支点。『炎方』是古称，取南方属火之义，二字自带热气；『景象』一词涵括风土、气候、草木、人事，不作细分，留出下句去落实。关键在『异』字：它只说不同，不说好坏，于是后面既可以往可畏处写，也可以往可喜处翻，两条路都留着。送行诗开篇最忌先定悲喜，此句的克制正是为第三句的转折预备余地。以中原为参照说话，也隐含着说话人与听者共有的文化位置，亲切而不生硬。
The opening uses the plainest word order to set out a factual judgment, no emotional color, yet it has already planted the pivot of the whole poem. The fiery south is an ancient term, taking the south as the region of fire, the two characters carrying heat of themselves. The word sights covers local customs, climate, plants and human affairs, no subdivision, leaving the next line to realize it. The key is the word unlike: it only says different, not good or bad, so that later one can write the fearsome or turn to the welcome, both roads left open. A farewell poem most fears fixing grief or joy in the opening; this restraint leaves room for the third line's turn. Speaking with the central plain as reference also secretly holds the shared cultural position of speaker and hearer, friendly not stiff.
海气昏昏杂瘴烟。
The sea vapors are dim and murky, mixed with miasmic smoke: the 'mixed' word makes the threat invisible but pervasive, pressing the contrast into physical sensation.
海上湿热的水气终日昏蒙，还混杂着瘴疫之烟。
the sea air is murky, mingled with the miasma.
承句把首句的『异』字落到具体的空气上，是全诗最见触感的一句。『海气』写岭南濒海的湿蒸，『昏昏』二字兼顾两重感受：眼前所见是天光不开、雾气不散，身上所受是闷塞不透、精神昏沉，一个叠字把视觉与体感搅在一起。『杂』字尤有分量——瘴烟本无形，掺入海气之中便无处可避，危险因此不是远远地摆着，而是弥漫在呼吸之间。写畏怖而不用一个畏字，只把空气写坏，这比直说风土险恶更能压人。有了这一句的沉重，第三句的『今日』才转得出力量。
The following line lands the opening's word unlike on the concrete air, the poem's most tactile line. The sea air writes the wet steam of Lingnan by the sea; murky carries two sensations at once: what meets the eye is a sky that will not clear, mist that will not disperse; what the body feels is the stuffiness, the cloudy spirit. One reducible word stirs sight and bodily feeling together. The word mingled has weight: miasma is formless, yet once mixed into the sea air there is no escape, so the danger is not set far away but diffused between the breaths. Writing dread without a word of dread, only spoiling the air, presses harder than saying the land is perilous. With the weight of this line, the third line's today can turn with force.
今日荒夷成雅俗，
Today the wild borderlands have become refined and elegant: the word 'today' introduces time as the resolution, and 'become' quietly carries centuries of civilizing change.
到了今天，昔日的荒远蛮夷之地已养成诗书礼乐的风气。
Today the wild lands have taken on elegant ways,
全诗的枢纽在此句。前两句写空间之隔，此句忽以『今日』二字引入时间，一转之下，那片被瘴气封住的土地便有了变化的可能。『荒夷』用九服之说，是旧日的看法；『雅俗』从风雅立言，是眼前的实情；两个相反的判断被塞进同一句七字之内，中间只用一个『成』字承接。这个『成』字极省而极重，数百年的置州立学、移民通商、科举兴替，尽在其中，不铺陈而自有分量。语气上，『今日』暗含『昔日不然』，既承认前两句所写为真，又宣告它已不足为惧，安慰之意不必说出口。
The poem's pivot lies in this line. The first two lines write the distance of space; this line suddenly brings in time with the word today, and at the turn the land sealed by miasma gains the possibility of change. Wild lands uses the doctrine of the nine domains, the old view; elegant ways speaks from refinement, the present reality; two opposite judgments are packed into the same seven characters, joined by the single word become. This become is spare yet weighty: centuries of establishing provinces and schools, moving people and trade, the rise and fall of the examinations, all within it, weight without expansion. In tone, today secretly implies yesterday was otherwise, at once admitting the first two lines are true and declaring they are no longer fearsome; the comfort need not be spoken.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
韩愈贬潮州，未至其地已作『好收吾骨瘴江边』之语，把岭南写成必死之乡，此后唐宋人谈岭表多沿其调。张方平此诗开头两句几乎接受了同一套地理想象，海气瘴烟一样可畏，却在第三句掉转笔锋，以教化之已成、南风之有源解去畏怖。同一片土地，一为埋骨之所，一为可居之邦，其间的差别既是心境的不同，也是唐宋两代对岭南开发认识的不同。以此对读，最能看出张方平不肯随人作愁语的性情。
六月二十日夜渡海 六月二十日夜渡海 苏轼 · 同以正面眼光看待南荒，可见宋人岭南书写中的另一路 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
苏轼自海南北归，作『九死南荒吾不恨，兹游奇绝冠平生』，把一段谪居之苦翻成生平奇观，是身历其地之后的了悟。张方平此诗则是送人未行之前的开解，一为回望，一为前瞻，落点却相通：都不肯让瘴烟之说锁住南方。苏轼平生视张方平为知己，晚年编其文集，两人在气度上的这点相似并非偶然，把这两首放在一处读，宋代士人面对边远之地的从容态度便看得很清楚。
送沈生昆弟随侍之博白四绝句 送沈生昆弟随侍之博白四绝句 张方平 · 同题组诗，此首为其一，居开篇立势之位 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此诗本是四首一组之首。就组诗的常法而言，开篇多用以铺陈所往之地的形势与风土，为后数首的叙情、劝勉、话别留出层次。这一首先以炎方海气立一畏怖之景，再以雅俗薰风扫去，等于替整组诗定下不作哀声的基调；后面无论写离绪还是写期许，都不必再回到瘴乡之惧上纠缠。读组诗者若只看此一首，会觉得转折利落；若置于全组之中，则更见其安排的用心。