一条江，一个诗人，两千年：端午节为什么是中国人最深的乡愁

我们聊一个，

we'll talk about

几乎每个中国人，

a festival almost every Chinese person

从小过到大，

has celebrated since childhood,

却未必真正读懂的节日——端午节。

yet may never truly have understood — the Dragon Boat Festival.

每年农历五月初五，

Every year, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month,

粽叶飘香，

the scent of zongzi leaves drifts in the air,

龙舟竞渡。

and dragon boats race across the water.

对今天的我们来说，

For us today,

端午，

Duanwu

或许只是一个三天的假期，

is perhaps just a three-day holiday,

一顿应景的粽子。

a seasonal meal of zongzi.

但如果你愿意，

But if you are willing

往这个节日的深处，

to walk a few steps deeper

再走几步，

into this festival,

你会发现，

you will find

它的尽头，

that at its very end

站着一个人，

stands a man,

和一条，

and a river

流淌了两千多年的江。

that has flowed for over two thousand years.

这个人，

This man

叫屈原。

is called Qu Yuan.

要讲清楚他，

To explain him clearly,

我们得先回到，

we must first go back

两千三百多年前。

more than two thousand three hundred years.

那时的中国，

China then

还没有统一，

was not yet unified,

诸侯林立，

dotted with rival lords,

战火连年。

war raging year after year.

屈原，

Qu Yuan

是南方"楚国"的一位贵族和大臣，

was a noble and minister of the southern state of Chu,

更是中国历史上，

and, in Chinese history,

第一位，

the first

留下了名字的，

great poet

伟大诗人。

to leave behind his name.

他写下的《离骚》，

His poem 'Li Sao',

直到今天，

to this day,

依然被无数人，

is still, by countless people,

反复诵读。

recited again and again.

然而，

And yet,

比他的才华更动人的，

more moving than his talent

是他的风骨。

was his integrity.

屈原一生，

All his life, Qu Yuan

只忠于一件事——

was loyal to one thing only —

他的祖国，楚国。

his homeland, Chu.

他渴望楚国强大，

He longed for Chu to be strong,

渴望它能够，

longed for it to be able

抵御住北方，

to withstand the northern power

那个虎视眈眈的秦国。

that watched it like a hungry tiger — the state of Qin.

他屡屡进谏，

Again and again he offered counsel,

却屡屡，

and again and again

被身边的小人排挤、陷害，

was squeezed out and framed by the petty men around him,

最终，

until, at last,

被一次次地，

he was, time after time,

流放到偏远之地。

exiled to remote places.

他只能远远地，

He could only, from afar,

眼睁睁看着，

watch helplessly

自己深爱的国家，

as the country he loved so deeply

一步步走向衰落。

slid, step by step, into decline.

公元前278年，

In 278 BC,

他最不愿看到的一幕，

the scene he least wished to see

还是发生了：

came to pass after all:

楚国的都城，

Chu's capital

被秦国攻陷。

fell to Qin.

国破，

His country broken,

家亡。

his home destroyed.

对屈原而言，

For Qu Yuan,

他生命中，

the last light

最后的那点光，

in his life

也熄灭了。

went out.

在那个五月初五，

On that fifth of the fifth month,

他来到汨罗江边，

he came to the bank of the Miluo River,

怀抱一块巨石，

embraced a great stone,

纵身一跃，

and leapt,

把自己，

giving himself,

永远地，

forever,

交给了那条江。

to that river.

传说，

Legend says

沿江的百姓，

the people along the river,

听闻噩耗，

hearing the dreadful news,

悲痛万分。

were overcome with grief.

他们争相划船，

They vied to row out,

出江打捞，

onto the river to search for him —

这，

and this

便是赛龙舟的雏形。

is the origin of dragon-boat racing.

他们把米团，

They cast rice balls

投入江中，

into the river,

只为让鱼虾，

only so the fish and shrimp

不要伤害，

would not harm

诗人的身体，

the poet's body —

这，

and this

便是粽子的由来。

is the origin of zongzi.

当然，

Of course,

作为一个历史悠久的节日，

as a festival of long history,

端午的内涵，

Duanwu's meaning

远不止一个人的故事。

is far more than one man's story.

在屈原之前，

Before Qu Yuan,

古人就视农历五月，

the ancients already saw the fifth lunar month

为"恶月"、"毒月"。

as an 'evil month', a 'poison month'.

此时暑气渐盛，

At this time the summer heat rises,

蛇虫滋生，

snakes and insects breed,

瘟疫易发。

and plagues easily spread.

于是，

And so,

门前悬挂的艾草与菖蒲，

the mugwort and calamus hung at the door,

身上佩戴的香囊，

the scented sachets worn on the body,

孩童腕上系着的五彩绳，

the five-color threads tied on children's wrists —

都寄托着，

all carry

古人驱邪避疫、

the ancients' simple wish

祈求安康的，

to ward off evil and illness and pray for peace and health —

朴素心愿。

a humble wish.

就这样，

And so,

对一位爱国诗人的深情纪念，

the heartfelt remembrance of a patriotic poet,

和一个民族，

and a people's

趋吉避凶的古老智慧，

ancient wisdom of seeking fortune and avoiding harm,

在漫长的岁月里，

over long ages,

交融、沉淀，

merged and settled,

最终凝结成了，

and finally crystallized into

我们今天的端午。

the Duanwu we know today.

说到这里，

Speaking of this,

我想和你，

I want, with you,

聊聊更深的一层。

to talk about a deeper layer.

你有没有觉得，

Don't you find

这是一件很不可思议的事？

this an almost unbelievable thing?

一个人，

A man

已经离开了，

has been gone

两千三百多年。

for over two thousand three hundred years.

可是，

And yet,

直到今天，

to this day,

每逢五月初五，

every fifth of the fifth month,

从城市到乡村，

from cities to villages,

从国内到海外，

from home to overseas,

亿万华人，

hundreds of millions of Chinese

仍然会因为他，

will still, because of him,

而吃下同一种食物，

eat the same food,

划起同一种船。

and row the same kind of boat.

我们纪念的，

What we commemorate —

真的只是屈原，

is it really only Qu Yuan,

这个具体的人吗？

this one particular man?

或许，

Perhaps

我们真正放不下的，

what we truly cannot let go of

是他身上，

is, in him,

那种"虽九死其犹未悔"的执着，

that 'though I die nine times, I would not regret it' resolve,

那份，

that

把个人，

devotion that binds

和家国，

the self and the homeland

紧紧系在一起的，

tightly together —

深情。

that deep feeling.

那是一种，

It is a kind

刻在我们文化最深处的，

of spiritual ground-color carved

精神底色。

into the deepest part of our culture.

节目的最后，

At the end of the show,

我想把两个问题，

I want to leave you

留给你。

with two questions.

第一，

First,

今年的端午，

this year's Duanwu —

你是怎么过的？

how did you spend it?

在吃粽子、看龙舟的时候，

While eating zongzi and watching the dragon boats,

你有没有，

did you,

哪怕一瞬间，

even for a single moment,

想起过屈原？

think of Qu Yuan?

第二，

Second,

两千多年，

for over two thousand years,

我们用一个节日，

we have used a festival

记住了一个人。

to remember one man.

那么，

So,

你希望，

how do you hope

未来的人们，

the people of the future

会用什么样的方式，

will,

记住我们，

remember us,

和我们，

and the things

所珍视的东西？

we hold dear?

这两个问题，

These two questions

没有标准答案。

have no standard answer.

但是它们，

But they

值得你，

are worth your

慢慢地想。

thinking about slowly.