大荒

大荒 (literary)

1. large-scale famine

   • 今吳民既罷，而大荒薦饑，市無赤米，而囷鹿空虛，其民必移就蒲蠃於東海之濱。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     今吴民既罢，而大荒荐饥，市无赤米，而囷鹿空虚，其民必移就蒲蠃于东海之滨。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE

     Jīn Wú mín jì pí, ér dàhuāng jiàn jī, shì wú chìmǐ, ér qūnlù kōngxū, qí mín bì yí jiù púluǒ yú Dōnghǎi zhī bīn. [Pinyin]

     Now, the people of Wu are tired of wars and have been inflicted with famine. There isn't the red-colored [moldy] rice in the market and the barns are all empty. Its people have to move eastward to the coastal area and live on clams.

2. remotest place; ultima Thule

   • 大荒之中，有山名曰成都載天。有人珥兩黄蛇，把兩黄蛇，名曰夸父。后土生信，信生夸父。夸父不量力，欲追日景，逮之于禺谷。將飲河而不足也，將走大澤，未至，死于此。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     大荒之中，有山名曰成都载天。有人珥两黄蛇，把两黄蛇，名曰夸父。后土生信，信生夸父。夸父不量力，欲追日景，逮之于禺谷。将饮河而不足也，将走大泽，未至，死于此。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Mountains and Seas

     Dàhuāng zhīzhōng, yǒu shān míng yuē Chéngdōuzàitiān. Yǒurén ěr liǎng huáng shé, bǎ liǎng huáng shé, míng yuē Kuāfù. Hòutǔ shēng Xìn, Xìn shēng Kuāfù. Kuāfù bù liànglì, yù zhuī rìjǐng, dài zhī yú Yúgǔ. Jiāng yǐn hé ér bùzú yě, jiāng zǒu Dàzé, wèi zhì, sǐ yú cǐ. [Pinyin]

     Inside the Great Wilderness stood a mountain called Chengduzaitian. There lived a man named Kuafu, who wore two yellow snakes as ear pendants and grasped another two in his hands. Houtu gave birth to Xin, and Xin was the father of Kuafu. Ambition outpaced his strength—Kuafu longed to chase the sunlight, and so he did, until he overtook the Sun at Yu Valley. Overwhelmed by thirst, he drank up the entire Yellow River, yet his thirst remained unquenched. He then set off toward Daze (lit. 'Great Marsh'). Shortly before he reached it, he died there by the mountain.

   • 公不少留我涕滂，翩然被髮下大荒。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     公不少留我涕滂，翩然被发下大荒。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1092, 蘇軾,《潮州韓文公廟碑》 (translation based on H. A. Giles's work)

     Gōng bù shǎo liú wǒ tì pāng, piānrán pīfà xià dàhuāng. [Pinyin]

     My tears stream that you did not linger awhile on earth, but passed so soon, his hair being down, into the great unknown.