Elon Musk’s Chinese Poem – On Beans and Brothers

It has happened again. For the second time this year, a billionaire has used a Chinese poem on social media in a newsworthy way. And you know we had to deal with it! This week, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, tweeted a Chinese poem about fraternal problems. The poem, which he titled “Humankind” (in English). It is not hard to understand the poem, but it is a little mysterious as to why Elon Musk is tweeting it. We tackle both problems on this week’s podcast.

Seven Step Poem
One boils beans by igniting beanstalks
The beans in the kettle sob
“We were born out of the same roots
to fry together, why be this rash?”
Lee’s Translation

Original:
七步诗
煮豆燃豆萁
豆在釜中泣
本是同根生
相煎何太急?

About the Author

chineseliteraturepodcast@gmail.com

3 Comments

Sibille Decker

thank you for your contribution to Elon Musk’s Chinese poem.
I remember seeing the story of the sons of Cao Cao in a series or movie.
Maybe that is where Mr. Musk got his wisdom from in a very mundane way?
On the subject of Chinese poems, I would like to contribute my – also quite profane – first Chinese poem.
It was on page 111 in my Chinese textbook for beginners.I didn’t like the translation by Wilhelm Grube into German, so I tinkered with it myself in an afternoon of hard work.
But of course I am not a multi-billionaire.
I keep my fingers crossed for you, maybe he really supports you on patreon or flies by between 2 space flights.
Have a nice weekend.

静夜思
床前明月光,
疑是地上霜。
举头望明月,
低头思故乡。

Reply
Ben

Isn’t this a political poem, like so much Chinese poetry? That doesn’t seem to come up at all in the discussion. Cao Cao’s brother became King and, threatened him with death. The interesting question seems to be who the “beanstalks” allude to and who the “beans” allude to.

Still catching up – sorry for delay. Too many podcast – too little time.

Reply
chineseliteraturepodcast@gmail.com

You’re absolutely right, it is a political poem. The reason we ducked the question was because we were less certain about the politics of the end of the Han Dynasty, so we chose to focus on the aesthetics and the context of Musk’s tweet. But you are totally right, a fuller discussion would have touched on the politics of Cao Cao and his brother.

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