How Ancient Chinese Poets Honored the Working Classes

On International Workers’ Day, discover ancient poems about labor and laborers

劳动节快乐！这些古诗致敬劳动人民

As a common slogan went during China’s Mao years, “Labor is the most glorious (劳动最光荣).” Nowadays, though, many of the country’s overworked tech programmers or “lying flat” urbanites may disagree—even today, on a public holiday for International Workers’ Day.

It could be worse: For centuries, the majority of the Chinese population worked menial jobs as peasant farmers suffering heavy tax burdens and unrelenting hours for their troubles.

Ancient poets, a privileged and scholarly group, drew inspiration from the hardship and grit of the laboring classes in their works. From farmers slaving under the summer sun, to charcoal sellers shivering in the winter snow, to silkworm breeders who couldn’t afford the garments they toiled to make, poets regularly recorded workers’ hard lives to express sympathy and denounce social inequality.

Every schoolchild in China today learns to recite “The Peasants (《悯农》),” by Tang dynasty (618 – 907) poet Li Shen (李绅), which describes farmers sweating under the summer sun as they plow the fields. The last two lines, in particular, are famous, and often recited to teach children not to waste food.

锄禾日当午，汗滴禾下土。

谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦？

At noon they weed with hoes;

Their sweat drips on the soil.

Each bowl of rice, who knows?

Is the fruit of hard toil.

-Translated by Xu Yuanchong (许渊冲)

Besides farmers, silkworm breeders were another major group of laborers in ancient China, providing the garments of city folks. Their work was arduous and time-consuming. They had to breed and raise the silkworms, collect the silk threads, and weave them into the silk fabrics for sale. Ironically (though perhaps not so different from workers in the modern garment industry), these workers spent their entire lives producing the fine fabric, but almost certainly never had the money to buy the products they made.

Song dynasty (960 – 1279) poet Zhang Yu (张俞) was profoundly affected by this realization, and wrote about it in his poem “The Silkworm-Raising Woman (《蚕妇》).” The poem tells the tale of a breeder from the countryside going to the city to sell her silk, and discovering the wealth of the city people.

昨日入城市，归来泪满巾，
遍身罗绮者，不是养蚕人。

I entered the city yesterday,
But returned with tears shedding,
Because I found those covered all over with silk,
Are actually not the silkworm breeders.

Meager incomes combined with low social status for ancient laborers, and social mobility was rare. Tang dynasty poet Qin Taoyu (秦韬玉) wrote about the futility of hard work in his poem “A Poor Maid (《贫女》).” The poem describes an industrious girl born to a poor family who, despite her expert textile-weaving skills and hard work, never has the opportunity to marry into a wealthy family. The last line of poem has become a common idiom used to describe someone who does all the work, but fails to get any of the recognition or payment for it. 

蓬门未识绮罗香，拟托良媒益自伤。

谁爱风流高格调，共怜时世俭梳妆。
敢将十指夸针巧，不把双眉斗画长。
苦恨年年压金线，为他人作嫁衣裳。

 In thatched hut I know not fragrant silks and brocade;

To be married I can't find a good go-between.

Who would love an uncommon fashion though self-made,
All pity my simple toilet and humble mien.
I dare boast my fingers’ needlework without peer
But I don’t vie with maidens painting eyebrows long.
I regret to stitch golden thread from year to year
But to make wedding gowns which to others belong.

-Translated by Xu Yuanchong

Bai Juyi (白居易), a government official and one of the greatest poets of the Tang dynasty, frequently wrote about the plight of common laborers. “The Old Charcoal Seller (《卖炭翁》)” is one of his most famous. It describes how the seller is freezing outside while selling charcoal, yet still hopes the weather will get colder so that he can sell more. But two eunuchs from the court approach and confiscate all the seller’s stock, claiming they are acting on the orders of the emperor, and leave little in return as payment.

卖炭翁，伐薪烧炭南山中。
满面尘灰烟火色，两鬓苍苍十指黑。
卖炭得钱何所营？身上衣裳口中食。
可怜身上衣正单，心忧炭贱愿天寒。
夜来城外一尺雪，晓驾炭车辗冰辙。
牛困人饥日已高，市南门外泥中歇。
翩翩两骑来是谁？黄衣使者白衫儿。
手把文书口称敕，回车叱牛牵向北。
一车炭，千余斤，宫使驱将惜不得。
半匹红纱一丈绫，系向牛头充炭直。

What does the old man fare?
He cuts the wood in southern hill and fires his ware.
His face is grimed with smoke and streaked with ash and dust,
His temples grizzled and his fingers all turned black.
The money earned by selling charcoal is not just enough for food for his mouth and clothing for his back.
Though his coat is thin, he hopes winter will set in,
For cold weather will keep up the charcoal’s good price.
At night a foot of snow falls outside city walls;
At dawn his charcoal cart crushes ruts in the ice.
The sun is high, the ox tired out and hungry he;
Outside the southern gate is snow and slush they rest.
Two riders canter up. Alas! Who can they be?
Two palace heralds in the yellow jackets dressed.
Decree in hand, which is imperial order, one says;
They turn the cart about and at the ox they shout.
A cartload of charcoal a thousand catties weighs;
They drive the cart away. What dare the old man say?
Ten feet of silk and twenty feet of gauze deep red,
That is the payment they fasten to the ox’s head.

-Translated by Xu Yuanchong

Cover image from VCG

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