Yuan Dynasty
小桃红 · 采莲女（一）
杨果
采莲湖上采莲娇，
新月凌波小。
记得相逢对花酌，
那妖娆，
殢人一笑千金少。
羞花闭月，
沉鱼落雁，
不恁也魂消。
Translation
On the lotus-gathering lake, there is a lovely lotus-picking girl; like a small new moon, she glides lightly over the waves. I remember when we met and drank facing the flowers. So enchanting she was — one smile from her could intoxicate a man, and even a thousand pieces of gold would be too little. Her beauty could shame flowers and hide the moon, sink fish and make wild geese fall. If she were not like this, how could she make the soul dissolve?
Analysis
This song portrays the beauty of a lotus-picking girl and the speaker's memory of meeting her. It is bright, direct, and sensuous, typical of the more playful and romantic side of Yuan sanqu. The opening line immediately places us on a lotus lake. The setting carries associations of water, fragrance, boats, and flowers. The girl is not a static beauty; she belongs to a living waterside scene. "Like a small new moon, gliding over the waves" is the most elegant image in the piece. The new moon suggests delicacy and slender grace, while "gliding over waves" recalls the classical image of a goddess moving across water. The word "small" adds a sense of lightness and youthful charm. The next lines shift into memory: the speaker recalls drinking with her before the flowers. Lotus, wine, and encounter combine to create an atmosphere of romantic immediacy. This is not distant courtly love, but a vivid meeting in a festive, waterside world. "One smile" being worth more than a thousand pieces of gold is deliberate exaggeration. Yuan qu often embraces this directness; the emotion is not hidden behind heavy symbolism but voiced openly. The final lines use traditional beauty idioms: shaming flowers, hiding the moon, sinking fish, and making geese fall. These place the girl among legendary beauties. Yet the last phrase brings the tone back to personal feeling: no wonder the speaker's soul is overwhelmed. The song is less about the labor of lotus-picking than about the erotic and visual world created by lotus lakes, moonlike beauty, wine, and a memorable smile.
About the Author
Yang Guo, courtesy name Zhengqing and literary name Xi'an, was a late Jin and early Yuan writer and sanqu poet from Puyin in Qizhou. He passed the jinshi examination under the Jin and later served under the Yuan, eventually reaching high office. He was known for integrity and administrative ability and was closely associated with Yuan Haowen. Yang Guo wrote poetry, prose, ci, and sanqu, with particular distinction in song. His sanqu often treats natural scenery, romantic feeling, and banquet life in a clear, ornate, and visually vivid style. The Ming critic Zhu Quan compared his songs to "fragrant and beautiful flowers and willows."