This piece was composed and recorded yesterday dedicating to the millions of high school seniors who are taking the national college entrance exam 高考 at this very moment in China. Every year, in the first week of June, the biggest and most intense exams on earth take place in China for three days. This exam will determine millions of young people’s future in the most dramatic way. I just found out that one of my cousins’ son is taking the exam right now in a high school that is in the neighborhood where I grew up. My cousin posted a photo of a beautiful sunset where I recognized the buildings. I can only imagine how emotional she must be going through for her son’s exams… I have teas just from typing these words down. I wish her son the best!
Thinking the national exam makes me remember a poem by poet Chen Zi’ang 陈子昂 ( 661-702) from the Tang Dynasty (my calligraphy of the poem below). A native of Shehong County in modern Sichuan province, Chen Zi'ang was the son of a rich man, and did not travel to Luoyang, the capital to take his exams until he was in his twenties. He completed the Jinshi 进士 level (the highest and final degree) of the Imperial Examination (equivalent of today’s national exam) at age twenty-four. He wrote a farewell poem on the night before he left home in Sichuan.
“Farewell to my friends in the spring <One>
The bright lit candle is spitting out light green smoke as I hold the golden wine cups to my farewell banquet. I will depart my home leaving family and dear friends behind soon to be on a long journey beyond the mountains and the rivers. The banquet keeps going on until the bright moon is hanging behind the tall trees and the Milky Way disappears in the dawn. In the morning, I begin my long trip to Luoyang capital. Who knows when we will ever meet again. ”
《春夜别友人二首. 其一》
陈子昂 「唐」
银烛吐青烟，金樽对绮筵。
离堂思琴瑟，别路绕山川。
明月隐高树，长河没晓天。
悠悠洛阳道，此会在何年。
Wu Fei 吴非
wufeimusic.com
