Butterflies Love Flowers Analysis

This is a poem wrote in Southern Tang, when Li Yu was the emperor. Different from most emperors’ ambitions of expanding their territory, Li Yu was fond of poems, songs, and other entertainments. Bodhisattva Barbarian is a form of Ci describing the romance between a young man and a young late at night. In fact, Li Yu wrote this poem to commemorate the scenes of his secret meeting with the sister of his empress. This poem is famed for the intimate relationship between two main characters. The heroine was afraid of being noticed by some one else. Thus, she took off her shoes and wore her socks, in case of making disturbing sounds at the silent night. Her fear and shy were replaced by the excited and sense of happiness, after successfully seeing her secret lover. In the second part of the poem, Li Yu used more physical words to describe the movement of his lover. They cherished the limited they only possessed at night. The lovely lady even confessed her sincere feelings for Li Yu, before she left. Even though secrete meeting is not an honorable behavior, from Li Yu’s Bodhisattva Barbarian, the viewers would be moved about their

honest and trustworthy sentiments.
From Chinese traditional perspective, this is a more sexually explicit poem.
Secret meeting at night, usually, would never regard as one of the proper behaviors of an unmarried young lady, even in this poem. However, the brave love and actions between Li Yu and his lover challenged the shackles of feudal thoughts. Although their behaviors are reckless, their attitudes toward love are valuable.
8. “Butterflies Love Flowers” (Die lian hua), Yan Ji-dao
Butterflies Love Flowers is one of the works of the poet, Yan Ji-dao, wrote in Song dynasty.

It is a poem recording Yan Ji-dao’s miserable feelings about his fragmented relationship. There are no specific stories included in this poem, but a series of images narrating the pervasive sorrow anywhere and anytime. In the beginning, he wakes up from his drunken dreams, sighing the past dreamlike life. He was confused when he was thinking of the reality and fantasies enriched in his minds. The trails of alcohol and poem reminded him the pleasures of the past time. Looking at the scenarios in front of him, his heart was filled with extreme upset and sorrow. The red candles in the last line made the whole surroundings much more distressing. There is no wide mood swings in this poem. Its unembellished narration creates a more sentimental

atmosphere.
Human beings have sorrow and joy, and the moon dims and shines. Friends or lovers around you will leave one day. Yan Ji-dao wrote this poem to express his depressing feelings, but also commemorate his passing enjoyments, which were gone with the woman he loved. This might be the second poem in this selection interpreting the poet’s grief to love. Li Bo articulated his resentment of the political situation in Tang dynasty through the love of E-huang and Nv-ying, which does not confront the values of love directly. On the contrary, Yan Ji-dao indicates his heartbreaking emotions through series of abstract metaphors, making the viewers could not help regretting his grievous experiences.
9. “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,” Feng Meng-long
It is a short novel wrote by Feng Meng-long in Qing dynasty, which has a significant influence on the history of Chinese ancient novels from its content and the method the writer articulated. The famous prostitute, Du Tenth, wants to buy her freedom back from the brothel at the capital of Qing dynasty, seeking for true love, and devotes the rest of her life to a student, Li Jia. However, Li jia is a selfish and cowardly man, who is yielding to the traditional Confucian ethic concepts in the society. Even though he is interested in Du Tenth, her background makes him hesitating for a long time. With uncertainty, Du Tenth has gathered the money she needed to buy herself. Most of the money came from Du Tenth herself and her sisters at the brothel, while Li Jia only paid a little. Finally, they talk a boat away from the flourishing capital. On their way home, Li Jia runs into a wealthy man, who is interested in the beauty of Du Tenth. Later, the rich man, Sun Fu, seduces Li Jia to sell Du Tenth to him with thousand prices. This price, for Li Jia this poor student, is quite tempting. In the end, Du Tenth was despair, when she knows that she has been abandoned by her lover because of thousand prices. However, she pretends that she does not their secret trade. When all of the people are together, she opens her jewel box and denounces their despicable behaviors, jumping into the river with her priceless jewel box.
It is a story about deceiving love. The heroine, at one time, believes that she has found her true love. However, there are too many people, which are the same as Li Jia, following the rules of traditional principles, yielding to the crucial reality. Du Tenth, however, is a strong and determined woman, which is uncommon in the history of Chinese literature. Although she is one of the brothel, her ambitions do not restrain by the disciplines of secular worlds. Pure love does not need the approvals from any outside parties, but the consent of the two individuals.

10. Peony Pavilion: Selected Acts, Tang Xian-zu
Because of Daoism’s fondness of stillness, Tang Xian-zu involved many aspects of monsters and ghosts in Peony Pavilion, which belongs the collection of Kun opera. In Peony Pavilion, Tang Xian-zu highly celebrates young men and women’s spirits of free love, unhesitatingly against the oppression of Chinese feudal society. The absolute freedom, from Tang Xian-zu’s point of view, is supposed to be the principles of living.
A poor scholar, Liu Meng-mei, dreams about a young lady standing under a tree, who would marry him in the future. The daughter of a noble family escaped from her classes to a garden, dreaming of a young man proposing to her. They have their secret meeting in their dreams. Since then, Du Li-niang, the heroine of this opera, falls ill and unable to recover. Before she died, she asked her mother to bury her under the tree of the garden and requests her maidservant to store her portrait under the lake. Her father commands somebody to build a small hut in order to commemorate her dearest daughter. Three years later, when Liu Meng-mei comes to the capital of that dynasty to have his test and lives in the hut built for the heroine. Fortunately, he picked up the portrait of Du Li-niang, realizing that she is the woman appeared in his dreams years ago. When they meet again in the dream, Du Li-niang revives from the grave, because of the effort of Liu Meng-mei. However, the father of the heroine finds the empty grave, informing the public the crime of Liu Meng-mei. He was supposed to be the number one of that year. Concerning his crime, Liu Meng-mei does not have the recognitions from the public and even his father-in-law. In the end, Emperor, at that time, gladly approves their sincere petition, after hearing this sentimental story.
Even though there are rigid regulations in the feudal society, many populations are still fond of this unconventional spirits illustrated in Peony Pavilion. Women are no longer willing to restrain their personal feelings, every time they think of their lover and marriage. As the accumulated education for generations and prosperous economic conditions, human beings, especially females, are liberating their antiquated thoughts progressively.