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Some editions attribute this poem to Weng Chuan (fl. 1250), one of the Four Poet Laureates of Yungchia. The white water here is the result of the “plum rains” that fall in May and June (the fourth lunar month) in Central and Southern China. During this time of year the cuckoo’s cry, which normally sounds like pu-ju kuei-ch’u (“better go home”), sounds like k’uai k’uai ch’a-ho (“hurry up and plant rice”). About the same time that silkworms wake from their winter slumber, farmers transplant rice sprouts from seedlings started a month or more earlier.

Village Events

FAN CH’ENG-TA

Green covers hills and plains and white fills the rivers

in the cuckoo’s cry there’s a misty rain

idle folks are rare the Fourth Month in a village

once silkworms are fed it’s time to transplant rice