Comments and Annotations

This song is taken from Critical Reviews of Extant Theories and Accepted Concepts (《论衡》) written by Wang Chong (王充, appr. 27—97) of the Han Dynasty. The introduction to the event is roughly as follows: The singer, a man around fifty, was playing a game of hit-or-miss on the roadside, when a looker-on, attributing the man’s idyllic life to Yao’s good government, remarked that Yao was really great, on which the man replied with the song. By enumerating his daily activities, the singer comes to the conclusion that his life has nothing to do with Yao’s administration. On the one hand the conclusion may sound anarchistic, on the other it expresses the singer’s sense of dignity. The gist of the song is that, as the man lives by relying on himself, he owes Yao nothing at all (or: Yao’s government has nothing to do with his life). The song, characteristic of natural ease, expresses the singer’s self-respect and reflects the self-reliant life style of the time.

About the divergences in interpreting “壤” and “尧何等力”, please refer to Appendix I: Inquiries and Discussions, No. 1.