WEBVTT

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Welcome everyone. I am so incredibly thrilled

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that you decided to join us today. Yeah, it is

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great to have you all here. Because if you're

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listening right now, it means you've got a curious

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mind and we have something truly special lined

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up for you. We really do. Today's deep dive is

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custom tailored to take you on a journey through

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a single utterly fascinating source right we

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are stepping way way back in time to ancient

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china specifically to unpack a wikipedia article

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all about a poetry collection known as the nine

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regrets now the mission of this deep diet is

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pretty simple we want to be your shortcut to

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being genuinely well informed exactly we're not

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just reading a list of old poems no Definitely

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not. We are going to extract the most important

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nuggets of knowledge. We're going to uncover

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the layered linguistic secrets, the hidden historical

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drama, and the profound emotional weight tucked

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inside these ancient verses. It's a lot to cover.

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It is. So settle in because this is going to

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be quite the ride. It really is. And to give

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you the 10 ,000 -foot view right out of the gate

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so you have a solid foundation for everything

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we're about to discuss. Please do. The Nine Regrets

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is a highly significant piece of ancient literature.

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Specifically, it is the 11th out of the 17 major

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sections that make up the ancient Chinese poetry

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anthology called The Choo Choo. The Choo Choo.

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Right. Yeah. And depending on the translation

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you're looking at, you might also see the Choo

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Choo referred to as the Songs of the South or

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sometimes the Songs of Choo. Oh, OK. It's this

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massive, incredibly important anthology. And

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our focus today, The Nine Regrets, is a very

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particular, very intriguing puzzle piece within

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that larger 17 part structure. OK, let's unpack

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this, because right away. The history behind

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how these verses came to be is just dripping

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with character. It really is. The text points

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out that these poems were written in what's called

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the Han Dynasty literary revival style. Yes.

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And this style was intentionally based on much

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earlier pre -Han pieces found in that Shu Qi

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anthology you just mentioned. Right. To put this

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in a way that makes sense for us today, imagine

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a modern musician. Let's say a massive pop star

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today decides they're going to release a brand

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new album. But they intentionally record it using

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analog tape, vintage guitars, and the exact lyrical

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style of classic 1960s rock. That's a great comparison.

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They're doing it to honor the greats who came

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before them. Right. To capture a specific legendary

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vibe. Exactly. That's essentially what a literary

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revival style is. They were looking backward

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to create something new. That is an excellent

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way to conceptualize it. It wasn't just writing

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poetry. It was a deliberate stylistic choice

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to echo a revered past. Right. And the author

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who made this choice for The Nine Regrets is

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attributed as a shoe poet named Wang Bao. Wang

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Bao. Right. Drawing on the meticulous work of

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the translator David Hawks, whose major analysis

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was published in 1985 and then updated in 2011.

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Got it. We know that Wang Bao flourished during

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the reign of Emperor Xuan. To give you some precise

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chronological grounding, Emperor Xuan's reign

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spanned from 74 BCE to 49 BCE. Okay, wow. So

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Wang Bao is writing these revivalist poems in

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that specific window, deliberately reaching back

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to an even older era. Wait, so he's sitting there

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in the first century BCE, essentially writing

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in the style of an era that was already considered

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ancient history to him. Exactly. It was already

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antiquity to him. That raises a question about

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how his work was even categorized. There's this

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quirky, almost funny detail about how the nine

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regrets belongs to a broader group of collections

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in the Chuchi that are all clustered under the

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title of nine something or others. Yes, the nine

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groupings. But the joke is, literal titles aren't

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always what they seem. You'd naturally assume

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a collection with nine in the title would have

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exactly nine pieces of poetry. You would think

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so. But apparently that's not always the case

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with these ancient texts. Why would they group

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them like that if the numbers don't add up? What's

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fascinating here is the underlying linguistics

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of the traditional Chinese characters used in

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the title. Let's look at that first character,

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which translates to nine. In modern Chinese,

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that character simply denotes the quantity of

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nine. If you have nine items, you use that character.

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Makes sense. But in ancient times, the character

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for nine was used much more symbolically. It

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wasn't just about the numerical count. It represented

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a quality of Nine. A quality of nine. Yes, it

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carried a thematic weight. In the context of

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the Han Dynasty literary revival, using nine

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was a direct symbolic callback to the older,

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revered sections of the anthology. Oh, I see

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it. For example, there's a much older section

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called the Nine Songs. But here's the brilliant

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part. The Nine Songs actually consists of 11

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verses, not nine. Huh. That is wild. It's like

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calling a band the Jackson 5 when there are clearly

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six of them standing on stage. Exactly. The math

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is totally confusing if you look at it with modern

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eyes. It's a symbolic brand name, not an inventory

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list. Precisely. But knowing that, does the math

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for Wang Bao's specific collection actually work

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out? Or are we dealing with another mismatched

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inventory? Curiously enough, for Wang Bao's nine

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regrets, the math actually does happen to work

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out, almost as a satisfying structural quirk.

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Oh, really? Yeah. According to Hawke's analysis,

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the collection consists of exactly nine main

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pieces of poetry, plus an extra final piece called

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a Luan, which functions as an envoy or a concluding

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sign -off. The sign -off. Got it. So you get

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nine main poems plus the wrap -up. The math miraculously

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aligns. Here's where it gets really interesting,

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folks. We know the nine part of the title is

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a symbolic brand name linking it to the past,

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which makes me incredibly suspicious of the second

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word in that title. With good reason. The translation

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we're given is regrets. So, nine regrets. On

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the surface, it sounds like a collection of sad,

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reflective poems about feeling sorry for yourself.

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But given how layered this literature is, is

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regret just a simple emotion here, or does it

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have a hidden agenda, too? You've hit on the

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exact brilliance of the text. It is a masterful

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piece of wordplay that carries immense historical

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gravity. Okay, tell me more. I'll give you the

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pinyin pronunciation for the title. It's Zhuhui.

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While that second word, hui, absolutely translates

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to the emotion of regret, it is also the exact

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posthumous name of a very real, very important

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historical figure. Who is it? King Hui of Chu.

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His given name, also pronounced Huai, was represented

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by a slightly different written character. But

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the phonetic connection and the posthumous title

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are identical in sound to the word for regret.

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Wow. This means the title Jiu Huai is an incredible

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double meaning. Wang Bao isn't just writing about

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the abstract emotion of regret. He is literally

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explicitly invoking the ghost of a specific king.

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That is just... The title itself is a historical

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monument. That just blows my mind. Imagine writing...

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a book today where the title perfectly describes

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the emotional tone of the story. But if you say

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it out loud, it's also the exact name of a fallen

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world leader. It changes everything. It adds

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this incredible haunting layer to the whole thing.

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You're reading about sorrow, but you're constantly

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being reminded of King Wai. But for you listening

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to really grasp the weight of this, we need to

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understand the stakes. What exactly happened

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to King Wai and his kingdom? Just how big of

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a deal was the kingdom of Chu? If we connect

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this to the bigger picture, you really start

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to understand why the Han revival poets were

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so obsessed with referencing this specific past.

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Right. The Kingdom of Chu wasn't just a minor

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province or a tiny village. It was a massive,

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culturally rich state that covered a vast territory.

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How big are we talking? To put it in perspective

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for a modern listener, imagine a superpower comparable

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to the Roman Empire at its height, boasting its

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own distinct art, religion, and way of life.

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Oh, wow. But it met a catastrophic end. The State

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of Tew was entirely annexed by the rival State

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of Kin in the year 223 BCE. 223 BCE. Yes. And

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this annexation wasn't just a change in management.

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It was a monumental, traumatic shift in the political

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and cultural landscape. An entire world was swallowed.

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Completely gone. So when poets centuries later

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during the Han Dynasty are writing these revival

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pieces, they are heavily utilizing historical

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allusions to those past events. They're reaching

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back to the trauma and the drama of a lost empire.

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And from what I'm seeing in the sources, it is

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pure, unadulterated political drama. Oh, absolutely.

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The text highlights a specific story that is

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alluded to in the older pieces, especially in

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a famous older work called the Li Sao. The Li

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Sao. Yes. Very famous. It's the story of a man

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named Kua Yuan. Now, Kwa Yuan is basically the

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archetype of the tragic hero. The text describes

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him as a loyal minister. Right. He's the guy

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who did everything right, who loved his country

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and served his king faithfully. But then he is

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brutally slandered at court and consequently

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loses the favor of his lord. A classic tragedy.

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And the lord who turned his back on this extraordinarily

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loyal minister was none other than that very

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same King Wai of Chu, whose name is hidden in

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the title. Exactly. But what did that slander

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actually look like? How did a loyal guy just

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lose everything? The narrative of Kua Yuan, that

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loyal, slandered minister you just mentioned,

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is the central pillar of this entire poetic tradition.

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In the treacherous environment of the royal court,

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Kua Yuan's unwavering righteousness actually

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made him a target. Of course it did. He advocated

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for strong alliances to protect Shu against the

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encroaching threat of Qin, but jealous, corrupt

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officials whispered lies into King Huai's ear.

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They set him on. They twisted Kua Yuan's loyalty.

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Framing his passionate advice as arrogance or

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treason. And the tragedy is that King Huai listened

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to the whispers. He believed them. He believed

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the slander and cast Kua Yuan out. It's the ultimate

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narrative of righteous loyalty destroyed by corrupted

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authority. Wang Bao writing The Nine Regrets

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centuries later. is channeling that exact specific

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tragedy. But what is equally important to understand

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is how this heavy dramatic history was packaged

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musically for the audience. Musically. Yes. The

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text notes these poems were written in the Shijing

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Song style. I know a bit about poetry, but what

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does the Shijing style actually sound like in

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practice? It's very distinct. Because when we

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hear ancient political poetry about a slandered

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minister, It's easy to picture something incredibly

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dry, like a dusty old political manifesto that

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you have to slog through. It is the exact opposite

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of dry. The Shai Jing style is defined by a rigorous

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driving rhythm. Technically speaking, it utilizes

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a quadruple meter and the poems are generally

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composed in rhyming quatrains. A quadruple meter.

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Yes. Meaning there are four beats or four main

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rhythmic pulses to every single line. And a quatrain

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is a stanza made up of four lines. Right. When

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you combine a steady driving four beat rhythm

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with a predictable rhyming structure at the end

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of the lines. you create something that is highly

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musical. It's rhythmic, it's driving, and it

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is deeply memorable. I think that's such a crucial

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point for you listening to Grasp. This wasn't

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meant to be read silently in a library. No, not

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at all. It was meant to be heard, meant to be

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felt in the chest. A quadruple meter is a walking

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beat, a marching beat, a heartbeat. Very much

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so. It makes the deep sorrow of Kuo Yuan and

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the grand political drama of the lost kingdom

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of Chu feel incredibly musical. You can almost

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hear the steady rhythmic chanting of these verses

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echoing through the halls. It takes the intellectual

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idea of regret and turns it into a physical auditory

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experience. It absolutely elevates the historical

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grievance into high art. And we can actually

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trace the emotional trajectory of that art by

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looking at the specific titles of the poems within

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the collection. The Ark of the Bones. Yes. When

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you lay them out sequentially, they form a very

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clear narrative and emotional arc detailing the

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psychological journey of the exiled minister.

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Let's read the map, so to speak. Let's walk through

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these titles because even translated into English,

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they are incredibly evocative. They really are.

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Let's start with the first three. The journey

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begins with a piece titled, I Release from Worldly

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Contrivings. Then we move to the second piece,

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To a Road to Beyond. And then the third, Third

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Dangerous Heights. The First Steps of Exile.

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Just those first three titles paint such a vivid

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picture of someone hitting their breaking point.

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Release from worldly contriving sounds like the

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exact moment a person decides they can no longer

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participate in the toxic, slanderous environment

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of the court. Exactly. I'll provide the opinion

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for those first three so you can hear the original

00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:42.960
phrasing. They are Kwanji, Tonglu, and Weijun.

00:12:43.139 --> 00:12:46.159
Beautiful. Your reading of them is spot on. The

00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:49.000
imagery here is profound. The road to beyond

00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.259
and the dangerous heights reflect a physical

00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:53.899
exile into the wilderness, but more importantly,

00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.799
a spiritual distancing from the corrupted court

00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.139
of King Huai. Getting as far away as possible.

00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:01.500
The speaker is removing themselves from the toxic

00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:04.179
environment. The wilderness in ancient Chinese

00:13:04.179 --> 00:13:06.679
poetry often serves as a metaphor for purity,

00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:10.100
a harsh but clean place far from the rot of politics.

00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:12.539
Which brings us perfectly into the middle section

00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:14.419
of the collection, where it seems like the poet

00:13:14.419 --> 00:13:16.480
is trying to figure out how to survive out there

00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:18.340
in the wilderness. Oh, yes, the survival phase.

00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:20.179
I'll read the next batch of translated titles.

00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:23.899
We get Fivey, A Light on the World, then V Honoring

00:13:23.899 --> 00:13:28.320
the Good, and Six Stored Blossoms. It feels like...

00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.100
Having escaped the dangerous heights, the poet

00:13:31.100 --> 00:13:33.399
is desperately trying to hold on to their virtue.

00:13:33.779 --> 00:13:37.019
A light on the world and honoring the good sound

00:13:37.019 --> 00:13:39.480
like the core principles Kua Yuan refused to

00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:42.220
give up. He refused to compromise. But what exactly

00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:45.639
does a title like Stored Blossoms evoke in this

00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:48.620
context? The pinyin for those middle verses are

00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:52.740
Zhaoshi, Zunjia, and Zhuying. That last one,

00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:55.299
Zhuying, or Stored Blossoms, is a beautiful,

00:13:55.399 --> 00:13:57.919
tragic metaphor. Okay, lay it on me. Think of

00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.279
a blossom. It represents talent, beauty, and

00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.360
virtue. In the natural order, a blossom should

00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.100
be displayed, it should bear fruit. For a minister,

00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:08.460
that means serving the kingdom and guiding the

00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:11.220
king. But because the court is corrupted, Kua

00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.759
Yuan must store his blossoms away. Oh, I see.

00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:16.320
He is tending to his own moral garden in exile,

00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:18.980
keeping his virtue safe from the rod of the kingdom,

00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:21.419
but also lamenting that his talents are hidden

00:14:21.419 --> 00:14:24.070
away and useless to the world. It is a profound

00:14:24.070 --> 00:14:26.830
expression of preserved virtue in a dark time.

00:14:26.970 --> 00:14:29.009
That is heartbreaking. Yeah. You have all this

00:14:29.009 --> 00:14:30.750
talent and loyalty and you just have to pack

00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:32.710
it away in a box because the world is too corrupt

00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:35.009
to accept it. Precisely. And unfortunately, this

00:14:35.009 --> 00:14:37.669
narrative of the loyal minister who has lost

00:14:37.669 --> 00:14:40.870
favor does not have a happy ending. The final

00:14:40.870 --> 00:14:43.370
sequence of the nine regrets really brings the

00:14:43.370 --> 00:14:45.690
tragedy home. It does. It gets very dark. Let's

00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:47.629
look at the final dissent. We have seven thoughts

00:14:47.629 --> 00:14:51.059
on loyalty bent. Then eighth. raising barriers,

00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:54.940
and the final main piece, Ajax quenching the

00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.299
light. The shift in tone there is devastating.

00:14:57.659 --> 00:15:01.019
The pinion for that final descent is Cizong.

00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.879
Tao Young. And finally, Zou Zhao. Zou Zhao. Let's

00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.980
dive deep into the thematic weight here, particularly

00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:10.059
that final piece, Quenching the Light. Thoughts

00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:12.120
on loyalty, Ben, speaks directly to the core

00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:14.940
trauma, the realization that true loyalty has

00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:17.340
been twisted and rejected by the ruler. It's

00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:19.559
all been for nothing. Raising barriers implies

00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:22.360
the ultimate severing of connection, the final

00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:24.440
insurmountable walls between the exiled minister

00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:26.740
and the court he once served. Complete isolation.

00:15:27.179 --> 00:15:29.120
But Quenching the Light is the masterstroke.

00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.210
It sounds so final. exactly does the poetry capture

00:15:32.210 --> 00:15:34.830
that extinguishing of hope? To paraphrase the

00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:37.129
metaphorical weight of that section, imagine

00:15:37.129 --> 00:15:40.389
watching a solitary, brilliant candle fiercely

00:15:40.389 --> 00:15:42.889
burning in the middle of a gathering storm. That

00:15:42.889 --> 00:15:47.389
candle is Kwayuan's righteous loyalty, his hope

00:15:47.389 --> 00:15:50.970
for Chu and his own life force. As the lies of

00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:53.470
the court and the armies of Qin close in, you

00:15:53.470 --> 00:15:55.610
aren't just watching the candle burn down, you

00:15:55.610 --> 00:15:58.269
are watching it be violently, deliberately snuffed

00:15:58.269 --> 00:16:01.220
out. Wow. Quenching the light perfectly captures

00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:04.019
that tragic fate. The light of his virtue, the

00:16:04.019 --> 00:16:06.620
light of his service to King Huai, and ultimately

00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:09.480
the light of his own life is finally extinguished.

00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.580
It is the ultimate expression of the regret that

00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:15.019
gives the collection its title. It's incredibly

00:16:15.019 --> 00:16:17.039
heavy. It leaves you with this profound sense

00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.500
of loss. It does. And yet there's that one extra

00:16:19.500 --> 00:16:21.700
piece we talked about at the beginning, the Luan

00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:23.740
or the envoy. Yeah. What role does that play

00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:26.759
after such a dark conclusion? The Luan acts as

00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:29.120
a vital concluding section, a wrap -up. It's

00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.519
almost like the poet Wang Bao, having guided

00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:33.580
us through this dark, rhythmic, mathematical

00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:36.820
journey of a slandered minister, steps out from

00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:38.840
behind the curtain one last time. Say goodbye.

00:16:38.980 --> 00:16:42.000
He offers a final bow, summarizing the tragedy

00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.379
and cementing the emotional weight of everything

00:16:44.379 --> 00:16:46.860
that preceded it. It brings the whole structural

00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:49.539
puzzle, the nine thematic qualities of regret,

00:16:49.779 --> 00:16:53.399
plus one final sign -off, into perfect, crystal

00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:56.450
-clear focus. So what does this all mean? We

00:16:56.450 --> 00:16:58.490
started this deep dive with a Wikipedia article

00:16:58.490 --> 00:17:02.049
about a relatively obscure ancient poetry collection.

00:17:02.330 --> 00:17:04.589
True. But what we've unpacked together is so

00:17:04.589 --> 00:17:06.890
much richer. We've learned that The Nine Regrets

00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:09.910
isn't just an old poem gathering dust in a library.

00:17:10.109 --> 00:17:13.210
It is a profound act of literary revival by Wang

00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:16.160
Bao. reaching across centuries to honor a lost

00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:18.940
era. Definitely. It's a mathematical puzzle where

00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:21.099
nine represents a quality of reverence rather

00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:23.920
than a strict count. It is a brilliant linguistic

00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.440
pun hiding the very real ghost of King Huai of

00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:29.059
Chu right there in the title. Which is still

00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:31.259
my favorite part. And above all, it's a rhythmic

00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:34.140
musical tribute to Kuoyuan, the ultimate loyal

00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:36.180
minister whose kingdom was swallowed by history,

00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:38.859
whose story of slander and exile was captured

00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:40.880
in the steady marching beat of the Shijing style.

00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:44.240
This raises an important question. One that bridges

00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:46.819
the massive gap between the first century BCE

00:17:46.819 --> 00:17:50.240
and our lives today. Exactly. When we look at

00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:53.000
Wang Bao writing The Nine Regrets, we are seeing

00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.700
a person using art, structure, and historical

00:17:55.700 --> 00:17:58.740
illusion to process the monumental political

00:17:58.740 --> 00:18:01.380
traumas of the past. Right. He's processing his

00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:04.140
world. He used the medium of his time to preserve

00:18:04.140 --> 00:18:06.940
history and to express the painful realities

00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:10.220
of loyalty and betrayal. It encourages us to

00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:13.539
look critically at our own culture. How do modern

00:18:13.539 --> 00:18:16.880
people use art, music, or literature to process

00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:20.000
the political events of our time? How do we preserve

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.500
our history and express our deepest values when

00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:24.180
the world around us feels like it's shifting

00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.440
or entirely falling apart? That's a great point.

00:18:26.579 --> 00:18:28.680
The impulse that drove Wang Bao to write the

00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:31.299
Zhuhui is a fundamentally human impulse, one

00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:34.069
that we still deeply rely on today. That is such

00:18:34.069 --> 00:18:36.210
a powerful thought to end on. It truly shows

00:18:36.210 --> 00:18:38.730
how these ancient texts are never really dead.

00:18:39.009 --> 00:18:40.890
They're just waiting for us to uncover their

00:18:40.890 --> 00:18:43.289
secrets and connect them to our own modern experiences.

00:18:43.509 --> 00:18:45.569
Absolutely. I want to thank you, the listener,

00:18:45.710 --> 00:18:48.250
for being here and for bringing such a rich...

00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.599
layered, and complex source material to the table.

00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.279
It has been an absolute joy to unpack the math,

00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.240
the history, and the deep emotional resonance

00:18:57.240 --> 00:18:59.160
of The Nine Regrets with you. It's been a great

00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:01.440
conversation. Before we officially sign off,

00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:03.420
I want to leave you with one final provocative

00:19:03.420 --> 00:19:06.000
thought to mull over as you go about the rest

00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:08.480
of your day. We talked at length about how ancient

00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:11.200
poets used the number nine symbolically, not

00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.539
to count things, but to represent a specific

00:19:13.539 --> 00:19:16.579
quality that linked their modern work to a legendary

00:19:16.579 --> 00:19:19.279
past right think about your own life your own

00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:22.660
culture the media you consume what modern symbols

00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:25.299
numbers or phrases do you use every day that

00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:27.740
carry a hidden historical weight you might not

00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:30.859
even realize keep being curious keep digging

00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:32.259
deep we'll see you next time