Today’s Ancient Chinese Stories post is the lament of Xi Chun, a princess that was alive sometime around 110 B.C.E. This was the time of the early Han Dynasty, the dynasty which overtook the Qin and took rule of China for a good 400 years (with the exception of a usurper in the middle whose reign did not last all that long and was disposed of fairly quickly). Today’s ancient poem is not translated by me: I will be using Arthur Waley’s translation of this poem. Enjoy everyone.

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My people have married me

In a far corner of Earth:

Sent me away to a strange land,

To the king of the Wu-Sun.

A tent is my house,

Of felt are my walls;

Raw flesh my food

With Mare’s milk to drink.

Always thinking of my country.

Would I were a yellow stork

And could fly to my old home!

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The sad thing is so many little girls these days dream of being a princess. Not just in ancient China but in most parts of the world this was quite a common practice. I guess you could call it marriage diplomacy (if there is a proper term, don’t be shy in telling me).  Usually the girls would be married off to nomadic tribes so the tribes would not attack China and there would be friendly relations and trading.  In the trade, both sides had goods they both desired: the Chinese had food and the other groups (usually nomadic in these situations) had horses. Of course it was not limited to these items. Fun fact: the silk road was started so the Chinese could get better horses and was rather small at first.

Sadly, the princess suffered greatly yet she still wanted to go to her homeland. If I were her, I don’t know if I would feel the same way.