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元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song

西湖游览

A Tour of West Lake

徐再思

Xu Zaisi

写景Scenery description 西湖West Lake 元曲Yuan Qu (Yuan aria)

里湖，外湖，无处是无春处。
真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉。
宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨，销金锅锦绣窟。
老苏，老逋，杨柳堤梅花墓。

Inner Lake, Outer Lake—nowhere is without spring's grace.
True hills, true waters, a true painting, a stretch of translucent jade.
Fit for wine, fit for verse, fit for sun, fit for rain—a gold-melting pot, a brocade grotto.
Old Su, old Bu, the willow embankment, the plum-blossom tomb.

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Meaning

The poet celebrates West Lake in Hangzhou, declaring that every part of it, inner or outer, is full of spring. The landscape is a natural painting of exquisite jade, suited to wine, poetry, sunshine and rain alike. It is also a lavish playground where money melts and brocades pile up. The poem closes by evoking the great souls linked to the lake: Su Shi, who built the willow-lined causeway, and Lin Bu, whose tomb is adorned with plum blossoms.

里湖也好，外湖也好，没有一处不是春意盎然的去处。真山真水真像一幅天然的画图，湖水澄澈恰似一片玲珑美玉。它添人酒兴、给人诗思，无论在晴日还是雨中皆各有其美；西湖又是挥金如土的销金锅、衣锦披绣的锦绣窟。想着那苏轼与林逋，还有杨柳成荫的苏堤、落梅为伴的梅花墓。

Appreciation

Xu Zaisi's thirty-three-character aria captures West Lake in its entirety—its pervasive spring, its jewel-like water, its suitability for all moods and weather, and its decadent splendor. The repeated 'true' and the metaphor 'translucent jade' render the lake's essence vividly. The final allusion to Su Shi and Lin Bu lifts the scenery into the realm of cultural memory, making this piece a quintessential example of Yuan sanqu's power to blend colloquial speech with refined allusion.

【白话串讲】 “里湖，外湖，无处是无春处”——徐再思游西湖：里湖外湖，无处不春。“真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉”——“宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨”——“老苏，老逋，杨柳堤梅花墓”——他想起苏轼和苏小小的墓。【意象与手法】章法极简净，起二句总写、中三句分写、末二句结以怀古。“里湖，外湖，无处是无春处”以地名叠用与双重否定造势；“真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉”连用三真字，如连珠炮般强调天然真色。白描大笔，不事雕琢而神韵悠然。【情感与主旨】写尽西子湖的处处春色与文化风神。“宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨”既赞其晴雨皆宜、诗酒可娱，也点出杭州繁华奢靡的一面；结句“老苏、老逋，杨柳堤梅花墓”引入苏轼、林逋两位与西湖血脉相连的高人，以怀古收束，胸次超远。【名句点睛】常考“里湖，外湖，无处是无春处”以地名叠用写满湖春色；“宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨”排比赞西湖晴雨皆宜、诗酒可娱。

Background

Xu Zaisi (courtesy name Deke, sobriquet Tianzhai) was a late-Yuan master of the clear-and-beautiful style of sanqu. A native of Jiaxing, he served as a minor clerk in the local government and was paired with Guan Yunshi (Suanzhai) as the Sweet and Sour Music Bureau. After the Yuan reunification, Hangzhou was the metropolitan center of the southeast, and West Lake became a fashionable resort. This song, set to the tune Chaotianzi, is Xu's tribute to the lake. The Inner Lake and Outer Lake are divided by Su Causeway, built by Su Shi when he was governor of Hangzhou; Old Bu is Lin Bu, the hermit of Solitary Hill who raised plums and cranes. Living under Yuan rule, many Han literati found it hard to advance and thus poured their feelings into landscape. Xu's work reflects both his delight in the lake and his longing for the lofty tradition of scholar-officials like Su Shi and hermits like Lin Bu.

徐再思，字德可，号甜斋，浙江嘉兴人，元代后期散曲清丽派代表，曾任嘉兴路吏，与贯云石（酸斋）并称酸甜乐府。元统一后杭州为东南都会，西湖游赏极盛，题咏西湖之作汗牛充栋。徐再思此曲当为游杭时所作，以中吕朝天子歌咏西湖。曲中里湖外湖以苏堤为界，苏堤乃北宋苏轼守杭时疏浚西湖、以葑泥筑成，后人名之；老逋指林逋，隐于西湖孤山，梅妻鹤子，其墓称梅花墓。作者身处元代，汉族文人仕进艰难，多寄情湖山，徐再思亦以清丽闲婉之笔写江南景致与市井风流。此曲表面极写西湖之美，结以苏轼林逋，实含对高洁文人传统的追慕，于繁华艳歌中自标高格，非徒然铺写游观之作。其于繁华艳歌中独标高格，正见元代清丽派文人不忘济世与隐逸两种传统之深心。徐再思号甜斋，与贯云石并称，此曲咏西湖而寄兴亡，清丽含讽，亦见其史识。清丽含讽，自成一格。

Art

The piece is composed with the utmost economy. The opening two-character phrases 'Inner Lake, Outer Lake' followed by the double negative 'nowhere is without spring' set the tone of enthusiastic affirmation. Three consecutive 'true' characters stress the natural genuineness of the scene, while 'translucent jade' sharpens the image of clear water. The triple 'fit for' (wine, poetry, sun, rain) leads to the folk metaphors 'gold-melting pot' and 'brocade grotto', which admit the city's extravagance without shying away. The ending pairs 'Old Su, Old Bu' with two landmarks, blending nature with cultural memory. Throughout, Xu uses plain, vivid diction and avoids ornament, achieving a graceful ease that marks the best of the clear-and-beautiful school.

此曲章法极简净：起二句总写、中三句分写、末二句结以怀古，脉络分明而意脉流转。里湖，外湖，无处是无春处以地名叠用与双重否定造势，开口便见满湖春色；真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉连用三真字，如连珠炮般强调西湖的天然真色，玲珑玉一喻把湖水的澄澈温润写活，是白话中见巧思。宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨，销金锅、锦绣窟，以排比（三宜）写其令人诗酒陶然、晴雨皆宜，随即以两个俗谚式比喻写尽杭人奢游，雅俗并陈，不掩繁华真相。结句老苏、老逋，杨柳堤梅花墓，忽由景入人，用典收束，把西湖的美升华到人文高度。通篇白描大笔，取神略貌，于浅近中见风致，最是清丽派当行。三十三字而有景有人、有今有古，取神略貌而风致自远，足为元曲咏西湖者之冠。三十三字铺排有序，疏密得宜，于小令体制中见长篇手眼；炼字无痕，写景如画而情韵自流，足称元曲小令之范。

Allusions

Inner Lake and Outer Lake refer to the two parts of West Lake divided by Su Causeway; together they denote the whole lake. 'No place is not spring' emphasizes the universal renewal of the season. 'True painting' and 'translucent jade' compare the lake to a natural scroll and a piece of clear, warm jade. 'Gold-melting pot' comes from a Southern Song saying recorded in the Old Affairs of Wulin, describing West Lake's power to consume visitors' money; 'brocade grotto' likewise evokes the luxurious attire of its pleasure-seekers. 'Old Su' is Su Shi, who dredged the lake and built the causeway lined with willows; 'Old Bu' is Lin Bu, who retired to Solitary Hill, planted plum trees and kept cranes, earning the nickname 'plum wife and crane son'. His tomb is the 'plum-blossom tomb'. The two closing images turn the natural beauty toward the human spirit, paying tribute both to Su's public service and Lin's reclusive purity.

里湖外湖是西湖以苏堤为界的分区，代指全湖；无处是无春处写春意之普被。真画图、玲珑玉皆喻西湖如天然画卷、温润美玉。销金锅用《武林旧事》记杭谚销金锅儿，喻西湖游人挥金如土；锦绣窟言其如积锦堆绣之穴，二语既状繁华，亦含微讽。老苏指苏轼，北宋知杭州时疏湖筑堤（苏堤，即杨柳堤）；老逋指林逋，隐孤山、植梅养鹤，人称梅妻鹤子，其墓即梅花墓。杨柳堤梅花墓以两处胜迹收束，把自然之景与人文之魂绾合，既切西湖地理，又暗喻作者对苏之济世、逋之清隐两种高风的景仰。全曲用典皆贴地而生，不堕书袋，是咏物小令用事的高明处。苏堤梅花墓皆贴地而生，不堕书袋，使西湖之美由自然之景升到人文之魂，章法尤见老到。苏堤梅花墓皆就眼前景随手点化，不堆故实而人文之厚自出；咏物而不为物役，寄慨遥深，是清丽派用事之的评。用事之妙，于此尽见。

Commentary

The first two phrases, 'Inner Lake, Outer Lake—nowhere is without spring', open with a sweeping assertion. The two place-names and the double negative give the impression that spring fills every corner. The next lines, 'True hills, true waters, a true painting, a stretch of translucent jade', move from the general to the specific, using the three 'true' characters to stress the untouched beauty and the jade metaphor to portray the water's translucency. The following 'Fit for wine, fit for verse, fit for sun, fit for rain—a gold-melting pot, a brocade grotto' introduces human activity: the lake inspires poetry and drinking, suits any weather, and attracts lavish spending. The final couplet, 'Old Su, old Bu, the willow embankment, the plum-blossom tomb', suddenly turns to ancient worthies, closing the lyric with historical resonance. In thirty-three characters, the piece includes scenery, people, past and present—a remarkable feat of compression.

首二句里湖，外湖，无处是无春处，以最朴白的口语总起：西湖无论里外，无处不是春，两个地名并列、两个否定叠加，语气略拗却格外有力，仿佛怕人不信而再三强调。三、四句真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉，由总入分，连用三真字坐实西湖的天然本色，玲珑玉喻湖水之澄澈温润，比喻新奇而贴切。五、六、七句宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨，销金锅、锦绣窟，转向人在景中的活动：西湖添酒兴、发诗思，晴雨皆美，这是雅的一面；同时它又是销金锅、锦绣窟，这是俗世繁华的一面，作者并不回避，雅俗并写方是真实的西湖。末二句老苏、老逋，杨柳堤梅花墓，笔锋一转，由今之游赏想到古之苏轼林逋，以两处遗迹作结，把湖山之美落到文人风骨上，余韵悠然。三十三字，有景有人，有今有古，尺幅千里。结以无人风骨，于繁华外别立一境，余味邈然，最耐寻绎，堪与诸家西湖之作参看。余韵邈然，足堪讽咏。

Prosody

Reading note This poem exemplifies the sanqu aesthetic of using colloquial language within a fixed tune. The repetition and parallelism are typical of Xu Zaisi's clear, refined style.《朝天子》属中吕宫，句式大体为二、二、五、七、五、四、四、五、五（带衬多变），音节轻快，宜写景小令。此曲起里湖，外湖为两字句的叠用，打破常格以造口语化的顿挫，恰合指点湖山、如话平生的声口；无处是无春处为五言带衬，以双重否定加重肯定。真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉中三真字连用，于平仄中见复沓之趣，唱来朗朗。宜酒宜诗，宜晴宜雨为三句排比（鼎足对之一种），句式齐整而意相生；销金锅、锦绣窟以两字短语对举，短促如鼓点。老苏、老逋为两字称呼并列，杨柳堤梅花墓以五字对收，用典稳贴。全曲用韵随中原音韵，多押鱼模、先天等韵，一韵流转，声情明丽，与西湖的鲜亮气质相称。散曲小令于此调最贵提纲挈领、以俗为雅，徐再思正得其法。

Line by line

里湖，外湖，无处是无春处。

The two place-names, Inner and Outer Lake, cover the entire lake. The double negative 'nowhere is not spring' emphasizes that spring pervades every spot. It is a bold, colloquial opening that sets the overall impression.

Inner lake, outer lake — there is no place where spring is not.

这三句（实为两短一长）是起手的总纲，以极朴白的口语写出西湖春色之无边。里湖、外湖是西湖以苏堤为界的两部分，作者并列拈出，等于说遍了全湖；紧随无处是无春处，用双重否定加强肯定，语气略显拗口却格外着力，仿佛怕听者不信而絮絮强调。这种不问细节、先给整体印象的写法，是大笔铺叙而非精雕细刻，正合朝天子小令取其神似、略其貌写的体制所长。更妙在春字——西湖之胜本四时皆有，独言春处，既切游赏时令，也暗喻湖山如处子之青春常驻。三句开口便见满湖生机，为后文真画图、玲珑玉蓄势。

These lines are the opening's thesis, writing the boundless spring of West Lake in the plainest vernacular. Inner lake and outer lake are the two parts of West Lake, divided by the Su Causeway; the poet names them together, as if naming the whole lake; then 'there is no place where spring is not,' a double negative strengthening the affirmation, the tone slightly awkward yet the more forceful, as if fearing the listener's disbelief and insisting. This way of giving the whole before the detail is broad brushwork, not fine carving, suiting the Chao-tianzi short song's art of seizing the spirit, letting the likeness go. Better still, the word 'spring': West Lake's beauty holds all four seasons, yet spring alone is named, suiting the season of this outing, and darkly figuring the lake and hills' eternal youth. Three lines, the whole lake's life at the opening, charging the 'true painting' and 'limpid jade' below.

真山真水真画图，一片玲珑玉。

Three 'true' characters underline that the mountains and water are naturally beautiful, like a real painting untouched by human embellishment. 'Translucent jade' compares the water's clarity and warmth to a piece of polished jade.

True hills, true water, a true painting — one sheet of limpid jade.

这两句是全曲的晴雨表，连用三个真字，把西湖的天然本色强调到极致。真山真水真画图，意谓西湖不是人工妆点的假山水，而是造化亲手绘就的真画图，一个真字便把一切矫饰推开；一片玲珑玉以玉喻湖，玲珑状其澄澈温润、空明可掬，把浩渺湖水写得如一块美玉卧于群山之间，比喻既新且切。三真字的排沓，在散曲中别具口语的脆爽，唱来如连珠；而玲珑玉的雅喻又及时把语调拉回清丽，俗不伤雅。这两句承前春处而来，由笼统的春意落到具体的湖光山色，是全篇最见炼句工夫处，也定下西湖清丽本色的基调。

These two lines are the song's weatherglass, repeating the word 'true' three times to push West Lake's native truth to the extreme. 'True hills, true water, a true painting' means West Lake is no man-made artificial landscape, but a true painting wrought by creation's own hand, one word 'true' pushing away all adornment; 'one sheet of limpid jade' likens the lake to jade, 'limpid' writing its clarity, warmth, and brightness, holding the vast water like a piece of beautiful jade resting between the hills, the metaphor new and exact. The three 'true' piled on each other, in sanqu holding a vernacular crispness, sung like linked pearls; and the elegant metaphor of 'limpid jade' at once draws the tone back to clarity, the vernacular not hurting the elegance. The two lines follow the opening's spring, from vague spring to concrete lake and hill, the song's most crafted point, fixing West Lake's clear, native tone.

销金锅锦绣窟

The lake suits wine and poetry, fine weather and rain—a perfect companion to human pleasures. Yet it is also a 'gold-melting pot', a metaphor for the money spent by pleasure-seekers, and a 'brocade grotto', a den of luxurious display.

The gold-melting pot, the brocade-laid grotto.

这六个字是全曲最见胆识的一笔。销金锅用南宋《武林旧事》所记杭谚销金锅儿，喻西湖游人不惜金钱、挥金如土；锦绣窟言西湖如积锦堆绣的窟穴，极言其繁华绮丽。两语皆为市井俗谚，作者大胆纳入小令，既不粉饰杭州的奢靡，也不以清高自掩，雅俗并陈，方写出真实的西湖。更深层看，这两个比喻与前面的真山真水形成张力：自然之真与人事之奢并置于此湖，恰是西湖的双重性格。元散曲咏繁华地者多，能于艳歌中点出销金之实者少，徐再思此笔，使小令不止于游观颂美，而带一点清醒的旁观，是为高手。

These six characters are the song's most daring stroke. 'The gold-melting pot' uses the Southern Song saying from Records of Lin'an for West Lake, where visitors spent money like water; 'the brocade-laid grotto' writes West Lake as a cavern heaped with brocade, the height of splendor. Both phrases are market sayings, the poet boldly taking them into the short song, neither glossing Hangzhou's luxury nor veiling himself in purity — elegance and vulgarity together, the true West Lake. Deeper, the two metaphors hold tension with the earlier 'true hills, true water': nature's truth and man's luxury set side by side on this lake, precisely West Lake's double character. Yuan sanqu on places of splendor are many; few point out the gold-melting truth amid the bright songs; Xu Zaisi's stroke makes the short song more than a travel eulogy, holding a clear-eyed detachment — a master's hand.

Study

Word focus

玲珑玉 Translucent jade. A metaphor for the clear, glowing water of West Lake; 'linglong' suggests exquisiteness and luminosity, transforming the vast lake into a small, precious object. 玲珑玉是全曲最精的比喻。玲珑本形容器物明彻通亮、精巧可爱，此处移以写湖，把浩渺的西湖水写得如一块温润空明的美玉，既可掬可握，又清光内含。这个喻的妙处在于化大为小、化动为静：西湖本是烟波万顷的阔景，经玲珑玉一收，竟成案头清供般的珍物，反更显其澄澈可爱。同时玉在传统文化中象征高洁，暗合作者不喜浓艳、独取清丽的审美。与前句真山真水真画图相连，画图写其形、玲珑玉写其质，形质兼备。一个寻常词，经此挪用作喻，便成全篇点睛，可见清丽派炼字贵在巧而不伤自然。

销金锅 Gold-melting pot. A phrase from a Southern Song saying that describes West Lake as a place that melts away visitors' money; it reveals the extravagant consumption associated with the lake. 销金锅是化用南宋临安俗谚销金锅儿，原指西湖游赏耗费之巨、如锅销金。作者径取销金锅三字入曲，与锦绣窟对举，写尽杭州西湖作为游乐消费天堂的实相。这个词的张力在于：它本是带讽意的市井俚语，置于咏湖小令中，既不破坏清丽基调，又使作品免于单纯的甜俗颂美，多了一层对繁华的真实指认。销金二字极具动感与重量感，与前面轻灵的真画图、玲珑玉形成冷热处理——自然之真清，人事之销金，对照之下，西湖的复杂性格乃出。敢用俗谚入雅令，正见元曲以俗为美、不避真实的本色。

老苏、老逋 Old Su (Su Shi) and Old Bu (Lin Bu). The affix 'old' gives an affectionate, familiar tone. Su Shi dredged the lake and built the causeway; Lin Bu withdrew to Solitary Hill and lived among plum blossoms and cranes. They represent public service and reclusive purity, respectively. 老苏指苏轼，老逋指林逋，两个老字是元曲中亲切口吻的称呼，带着作者对前贤的熟络与敬爱。苏轼守杭疏湖筑堤（苏堤，即杨柳堤），泽被西湖；林逋隐孤山、梅妻鹤子，其墓称梅花墓，高洁西湖。作者于结句并列二老，实是以最简省的笔墨，把西湖从自然之景提升到人文之魂：湖之美不仅在山水，更在曾有人如此用心、如此栖隐。老字用得极轻，分量却极重——它让千年前的苏轼林逋仿佛邻翁，与今日游者同在湖山。这种以人收景、以古结今的收束，使小令余韵悠然，远超一般模山范水之作。