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菩萨蛮·大柏地

Pusaman: Dabaidi

毛泽东

Mao Zedong

赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？
雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。
当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁。
装点此关山，今朝更好看。

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—who holds a ribbon of colors dancing in the sky? After the rain the slanting sun returns, the passes and mountains turn deep azure wave on wave.
In those years the battle raged fierce, bullet-holes pockmark the wall of the front village. They adorn these passes and mountains; today they look even fairer.
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Meaning

This lyric recalls the 1929 battle at Dabaidi, transmuting a rainbow after rain and the bullet-scarred walls of a village into a celebration of revolutionary struggle. By framing war's relics as ornaments of the landscape, the poem expresses revolutionary optimism—the conviction that the sacrifices of the past make the present homeland more beautiful.

赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁。装点此关山，今朝更好看。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem opens with a rainbow's seven colors asked 'who holds a ribbon dancing in the sky,' then turns to the slanting sun gilding the blue passes, and finally to the bullet-holes of a bygone battle that now 'adorn' the mountains. [Structure] Its two stanzas move from natural spectacle to historical memory: the first paints the post-rain scene, the second retrieves the fierce fighting of 'those years.' [Imagery] The rainbow as 'colored ribbon' and the 'bullet-holes' as decoration are the key images, linking sky and earth, beauty and violence. [Tone] The closing line—'today they look even fairer'—resolves the poem's tension between war and peace into serene, confident joy. Concise and luminous, the lyric is a model of how Mao fuses landscape and revolutionary memory.

【白话串讲】 毛泽东写《菩萨蛮·大柏地》：“赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞”——“雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍”——“当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁”——“装点此关山，今朝更好看”——他写大柏地——谁持彩练当空舞。 【意象与手法】 “赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞”以七色写彩虹并以“谁持彩练”设问；“雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍”以雨后斜阳写关山；“当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁”以弹洞写战争遗迹；结以“装点此关山，今朝更好看”以革命遗迹装点山河。写景与忆旧交融。 【情感与主旨】 重过大柏地时所作，回忆当年战斗、赞颂革命根据地的今朝，以“弹洞前村壁”写战斗遗迹之美，体现革命乐观主义精神。 【名句点睛】 常考“赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞”以七色写彩虹；“装点此关山，今朝更好看”以弹洞装点写革命遗迹之美。

Background

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) wrote 'Pusaman: Dabaidi' in 1933, recalling a battle fought on February 10, 1929, near Dabaidi in Jiangxi, where the Red Army won a victory against Guomindang forces. Dabaidi is a mountain pass; the poem was composed when Mao revisited the area during the Anti-Encirclement campaigns. Set in the 'Pusaman' tune (double-mode, forty-four characters), it belongs to Mao's cluster of works that memorialize revolutionary sites. The juxtaposition of a rainbow and battle scars reflects his practice of finding aesthetic and political meaning in the landscapes of struggle.

《菩萨蛮·大柏地》为毛泽东所作词。毛泽东（1893—1976），字润之，湖南湘潭人，中国无产阶级革命家、军事家，也是杰出的诗人。此词写景咏史，为大柏地之作。词中「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞；「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」写雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍；「当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁」写当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁；「装点此关山，今朝更好看」写装点此关山，今朝更好看。毛泽东此词以写景咏史、今朝更好看写其咏史之情，豪迈壮阔，是毛泽东词中的名篇。此篇《菩萨蛮·大柏地》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《菩萨蛮·大柏地》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The lyric's art rests on its deft juxtaposition of natural beauty and martial memory within a tightly economical form. [Imagery] The opening question—'who holds a ribbon of colors dancing in the sky'—personifies the rainbow as a dancer's sash, immediately charging the scene with motion and wonder. [Structure] The poem splits into a serene first stanza (rainbow, returning sun, azure passes) and a martial second (fierce battle, bullet-marked walls), the two linked by the repeated 'passes and mountains' that the rainbow graced and the bullets adorned. [Tone] The pivotal move is reframing war's damage as decoration: bullet-holes 'adorn' the mountains, and the present is 'fairer' for them. This reversal of loss into beauty is the poem's emotional core, achieved through understatement rather than rhetoric. The short, song-like lines keep the feeling light yet resonant.

此词艺术上以「豪迈壮阔、以景写情」见长。全词共两句，由赤橙黄绿青蓝紫而雨后复斜阳而当年鏖战急。起「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫：赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞；「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」写雨后复斜阳：雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍；「当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁」写当年鏖战急：当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁；结「装点此关山，今朝更好看」写今朝更好看：装点此关山，今朝更好看。全词以景写情，由赤橙黄绿青蓝紫而今朝更好看，豪迈壮阔，是毛泽东词中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

Though apparently plain, the poem draws on classical landscape and war-poetry resources. The 'colored ribbon' (彩练) evokes the traditional image of flowing silk or banner in the sky, while 'passes and mountains' (关山) is a venerable term for frontier fortifications and the hardships of campaign, echoing northern ballads and Tang frontier verse. The 'slanting sun' (斜阳) carries the conventional melancholy of dusk, here redeemed by the rainbow's brilliance. The bullet-holes recall the 'stone inscriptions' and 'battle traces' of older commemorative poetry, but Mao inverts the elegiac tone: instead of mourning, he celebrates. The 'Pusaman' tune itself, with its origins in folk melody, lends the martial content a lilting, almost folk-song lightness, a characteristic Mao strategy of marrying popular form to revolutionary subject.

词中「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫谁持彩练当空舞」「雨后复斜阳关山阵阵苍」「当年鏖战急弹洞前村壁」「装点此关山今朝更好看」等语，皆含典故故实。「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫谁持彩练当空舞」写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫谁持彩练当空舞；「雨后复斜阳关山阵阵苍」写雨后复斜阳关山阵阵苍；「当年鏖战急弹洞前村壁」写当年鏖战急弹洞前村壁；「装点此关山今朝更好看」写装点此关山今朝更好看。词人以彩练、关山等语入词，不着痕迹，而把写景咏史之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Critics prize 'Pusaman: Dabaidi' for its rare tenderness within Mao's generally heroic oeuvre. The rainbow passage is often cited as among his most purely beautiful lines, while the transformation of bullet-holes into adornment is read as the quintessence of revolutionary romanticism—finding glory, not grief, in struggle. The poem's compactness (only forty-four characters) is admired for achieving both scenic freshness and historical depth. Within the 'Pusaman' tradition, Mao's version stands out for substituting personal lament with collective confidence. It remains a classroom favorite, illustrating how a single natural image (the rainbow) can be made to bear the weight of revolutionary memory, and how the present beauty of the homeland is presented as the fruit of past sacrifice.

这首《菩萨蛮·大柏地》，是毛泽东写写景咏史之作，写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫、雨后复斜阳、当年鏖战急、今朝更好看之情，豪迈壮阔。起「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」——赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞。写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫：赤橙黄绿青蓝紫、谁持彩练当空舞——彩练当空舞；「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」——雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。写雨后复斜阳：雨后复斜阳、关山阵阵苍——复斜阳、阵阵苍；「当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁」——当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁。写当年鏖战急：当年鏖战急、弹洞前村壁——鏖战急、前村壁；结「装点此关山，今朝更好看」——装点此关山，今朝更好看。写今朝更好看：装点此关山、今朝更好看——装点关山、更好看。这「装点此关山，今朝更好看」，是全词之结：以今朝更好看写其咏史。全词豪迈壮阔，以景写情，正是毛泽东词中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Ci lyric (Pusaman tune)词（菩萨蛮）
Rhyme The 'Pusaman' tune is a double-mode lyric of forty-four characters, rhyming 紫 and 舞 (yu rhyme), 阳 and 苍 (yang rhyme), 急 and 壁 (zhi rhyme), 山 and 看 (han rhyme), with shifting rhyme groups that follow the changing mood.此词为词牌「菩萨蛮」，双调四十四字。押韵：「紫」「舞」押语部韵；「阳」「苍」押阳部韵；「急」「壁」押职部韵；「山」「看」押寒部韵。词体依词牌而定，句式长短错落，音节随情起伏，正与写写景咏史的豪迈壮阔相称，也见其以词牌写咏史的流转。
Tone pattern Line lengths alternate between short and long phrases; the opening is bright and quick, the middle limpid, the battle stanza heroic, and the close uplifting—its rhythmic turns matching the poem's movement from nature to memory to joy.句式上，「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，音节明快；「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」写雨后复斜阳，音节清丽；「当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁」写当年鏖战急，音节豪迈；结「装点此关山，今朝更好看」写今朝更好看，音节昂扬。全词音节随情起伏，由明快而清丽、由豪迈而昂扬，正合词牌「流转」之妙，读来如写景咏史、今朝更好看之音，豪迈而动人。
Reading note Set in the folk-derived 'Pusaman' tune, the lyric achieves its music through regular short lines and shifting rhymes rather than uniformity. The rainbow stanza's lightness and the battle stanza's firmness are audible in the meter. Mao's characteristic 'majestic yet expansive' manner appears here in miniature: a small song-form carrying both scenic beauty and revolutionary confidence, a model of economical, image-driven ci writing.此词为词牌「菩萨蛮」，是毛泽东写写景咏史之作，也是其词中的名篇。全词的艺术特色在于「豪迈壮阔、以景写情」：「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫、「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」写雨后复斜阳、「当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁」写当年鏖战急、「装点此关山，今朝更好看」写今朝更好看。全词豪迈壮阔，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」写尽七彩当空；而「装点此关山，今朝更好看」写尽更好看之情，正是毛泽东词「豪迈壮阔」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《菩萨蛮·大柏地》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—who holds a ribbon of colors dancing in the sky?

赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞？

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—who holds the colored ribbons dancing in the sky?

起句写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，起笔即见其色。「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫」写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，「赤橙黄绿」写赤橙黄绿、「青蓝紫」写青蓝紫；「谁持彩练当空舞」写谁持彩练当空舞，「谁持彩练」写谁持彩练、「当空舞」写当空舞。两句一写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫、一写谁持彩练当空舞，以赤橙黄绿青蓝紫写七彩、以谁持彩练当空舞写当空舞，写尽赤橙黄绿青蓝紫、谁持彩练当空舞之情。以色起兴，豪迈而壮阔，是「以色起兴」的妙笔。

The rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—who holds the colored ribbons dancing in the sky? The listed colors and the who-holds-the-ribbons question are the rainbow. To have described the rainbow would be scenery; the listed-seven-colors against the who-holds-the-colored-ribbons-dancing-in-the-sky is the scenery.

雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。

After the rain the slanting sun returns, the passes and mountains turn deep azure wave on wave.

雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍。

After rain, the setting sun returns; mountain on mountain, range after range, darkens.

此二句写雨后复斜阳，是全词写雨后之态的关键。「雨后复斜阳」写雨后复斜阳，「雨后」写雨后、「复斜阳」写复斜阳；「关山阵阵苍」写关山阵阵苍，「关山」写关山、「阵阵苍」写阵阵苍。两句一写雨后复斜阳、一写关山阵阵苍，以雨后复斜阳写复斜阳、以关山阵阵苍写阵阵苍，写尽雨后复斜阳、关山阵阵苍之情。以雨写景，豪迈而壮阔，是「以雨写景」的点睛之笔。

The sunset. After rain, the setting sun returns; mountain on mountain, range after range, darkens. The after-rain sunset and the darkening ranges are the recovered landscape. To have described the post-rain mountains would be scenery; the after-rain-setting-sun-returns against the mountain-on-mountain-darkening-wave-after-wave is the scenery.

当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁。

In those years the battle raged fierce, bullet-holes pockmark the wall of the front village.

当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁。

In that year the fierce battle raged; bullet holes pocked the walls of the village ahead.

此二句写当年鏖战急，是全词写鏖战之态的关键。「当年鏖战急」写当年鏖战急，「当年」写当年、「鏖战急」写鏖战急；「弹洞前村壁」写弹洞前村壁，「弹洞」写弹洞、「前村壁」写前村壁。两句一写当年鏖战急、一写弹洞前村壁，以当年鏖战急写鏖战急、以弹洞前村壁写前村壁，写尽当年鏖战急、弹洞前村壁之情。以战写景，豪迈而壮阔，是「以战写景」的点睛之笔。

The battle. In that year the fierce battle raged; bullet holes pocked the walls of the village ahead. The fierce battle and the bullet holes are the memory. To have recalled the battle would be a recollection; the that-year-fierce-battle-raged against the bullet-holes-pocked-the-village-walls is the recollection.

装点此关山，今朝更好看。

They adorn these passes and mountains; today they look even fairer.

装点此关山，今朝更好看。

These adornments on the mountain passes look finer than ever today.

结句写今朝更好看，是全词立意的落点。「装点此关山」写装点此关山，「装点」写装点、「此关山」写此关山；「今朝更好看」写今朝更好看，「今朝」写今朝、「更好看」写更好看。两句一写装点此关山、一写今朝更好看，以装点此关山写关山、以今朝更好看写更好看，写尽装点此关山、今朝更好看之情。以好看写情，豪迈而壮阔，是全词最动人处，也是「以好看写情」的点睛之笔。

The beauty. These adornments on the mountain passes look finer than ever today. The bullet holes as adornments, better today, are the revaluation. To have said the battle scars now looked beautiful would be a revaluation; the adornments-on-this-mountain-pass against the look-finer-than-ever-today is the revaluation.

Study

Word focus

彩练 'Colored ribbon'—a metaphor for the rainbow, imagined as a length of dyed silk dancing in the sky; it lends the natural phenomenon a graceful, animated, almost festive presence. 「彩练」写谁持彩练当空舞，是写彩练之态的关键。「谁持彩练当空舞」着一「彩练」，写彩练——着一「彩练」，写谁持彩练当空舞，见其练之彩。两字写尽彩练之态，是「以词写练」的妙笔。「彩练」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
斜阳 'Slanting sun'—the sun low in the western sky after rain; classically a melancholy image, here it gilds the blue mountains and contributes to the scene's renewed brightness rather than sorrow. 「斜阳」写雨后复斜阳，是写斜阳之态的关键。「雨后复斜阳」着一「斜阳」，写斜阳——着一「斜阳」，写雨后复斜阳，见其阳之斜。两字写尽斜阳之态，是「以词写阳」的点睛之词。「斜阳」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
关山 'Passes and mountains'—a traditional term for frontier terrain and the toil of campaign; here it names the landscape both graced by the rainbow and marked by battle, binding nature and history. 「关山」写关山阵阵苍，是写关山之态的关键。「关山阵阵苍」着一「关山」，写关山——着一「关山」，写关山阵阵苍，见其山之关。两字写尽关山之态，是「以词写山」的点睛之词。「关山」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
弹洞 'Bullet-hole'—the scars left by gunfire on the village wall; the poet reframes these marks of war as ornaments, turning violence into a source of beauty and revolutionary pride. 「弹洞」写弹洞前村壁，是写弹洞之态的关键。「弹洞前村壁」着一「弹洞」，写弹洞——着一「弹洞」，写弹洞前村壁，见其洞之弹。两字写尽弹洞之态，是「以词写洞」的点睛之词。「弹洞」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Shuidiaogetou: When Did the Bright Moon Appear? 苏轼 · 同写咏史感怀、豪迈旷达，一写我欲乘风归去、一写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫谁持彩练当空舞，皆于咏史之中见豪迈 Both poems contemplate nature with heroic, transcendent feeling—Su Shi riding the wind, Mao watching the colored ribbon—each locating heroism in cosmic or scenic contemplation.

Su Shi's 'Shuidiaogetou' ('I would ride the wind and return home') is a Song masterpiece of lofty, detached feeling; Mao's 'Pusaman: Dabaidi' answers with the dancing 'colored ribbon' of the rainbow. Both bind nature to elevated emotion—Su Shi's serene transcendence versus Mao's radiant confidence—and together show how the ci form carries heroic contemplation across eras.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒」，写咏史感怀、豪迈旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；毛泽东《菩萨蛮·大柏地》则以「赤橙黄绿青蓝紫，谁持彩练当空舞」「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」写彩练当空舞、雨后复斜阳。两词同写咏史感怀、豪迈旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写赤橙黄绿青蓝紫谁持彩练当空舞、以彩练写壮阔；一为苏轼之超然、一为毛泽东之豪迈，并读正可见词写「咏史感怀」的两种笔法，皆于咏史之中见豪迈。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Bashengganzhou: On the Misty Evening Rain over River and Sky 柳永 · 同写登高咏史、清丽沉雄，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写雨后复斜阳关山阵阵苍，皆于登高之中见咏史 Both write elevated landscape from a vantage point—Liu Yong's evening rain washing autumn, Mao's post-rain sun gilding the passes—each locating feeling within grand scenery.

Liu Yong's 'Bashengganzhou' ('On the misty evening rain sprinkling river and sky') is a celebrated Song landscape lyric; Mao's 'Dabaidi' counters with rainbow and returning sun over blue passes. Both write scenic poetry from a heightened vantage—Liu Yong's limpid melancholy versus Mao's bright confidence—and read together reveal two manners of binding feeling to scenery in the ci tradition.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写登高咏史、清丽沉雄，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；毛泽东《菩萨蛮·大柏地》则以「雨后复斜阳，关山阵阵苍」「当年鏖战急，弹洞前村壁」写复斜阳阵阵苍、鏖战急前村壁。两词同写登高咏史、清丽沉雄：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写雨后复斜阳关山阵阵苍、以雨霁写壮阔；一为柳永之清丽、一为毛泽东之豪迈，并读正可见词写「登高咏史」的两种笔法，皆于登高之中见咏史。