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Wang Chia (851–890) was from near Yungchi in Shansi province and reached the post of vice-director of one of the bureaus in the Ministry of Rites in Ch’ang-an. Here, he is in Kiangsi province serving as prefect of Yenshan. Gooselake Mountain (Ohushan) was a few kilometers southeast of town. During the following century it was the location of a major Confucian academy. In ancient times the Chinese held a neighborhood festival in honor of the Earth God; it included twenty-five families and was held twenty-five days after the beginning of spring and fall. In the first line I have read tao-t’ien fei (fields are fertilized—therefore, ready) in place of tao-liang-fei (grain is fat). This emendation seems inescapable, as grain could not possibly be fei (fat) a month after New Year. On the other hand, fei was commonly used to describe fields. The closed sties and coops suggest that sows have just given birth and chicks have just hatched, and that they are being protected from predators in a family’s absence. Mulberry trees supply the leaves silkworms feed on. They are pruned in winter and put forth new leaves about this time, at least enough to cast shadows in the setting sun. Taxes were usually paid in silk; hence, this was a major concern of every family. Some editions attribute this poem to Chang Yen (fl. 880).

Festival Day

WANG CHIA

The fields below Gooselake Mountain are ready

the pigsties and chicken coops are all shut tight

mulberry shadows mean springfest is over

families all help their drunken men home