#36 The "Nine Bends" of Liuyang River

China has more than 1,500 rivers and they are important in providing water, transport purposes etc. since ancient times. In addition, rivers like Liuyang Rive have some significance to the people too.

"The Liuyang River has a special place in the hearts of Changsha people in central China's Hunan Province. Japanese teacher Noriko Nakamura lives right next to it. When she opens her window, the winding river unfolds before her eyes. As she says, "The curves of the Liuyang River enrich the city of Changsha. Seeing the scenery and meeting new friends around the corner makes my life so much more exciting." (Text and below images credited to CGTN article ).

浏阳河 𝓛𝓲𝓾𝔂𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓡𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻

Liuyang River is well-known in China as there is a melodious folk song about it titled 浏阳河 which honours Mao Zetong. Below is the excerpt of the song’s lyrics (including the pinyin and my translation) which refers to the curves of the river:

⭐浏阳河弯过了九道弯 liuyang he wanguole jiu dao wan
>The Liuyang River bends itself over many curves

Here we cannot translate 九道弯 literally i.e. “nine bends” as Liuyang River has more than nine bends itself.

九 or number nine could be used as a metaphor to mean numerous. For example, the Cantonese phrase 九大簋（gau daai gwai lit. nine bronze food vessels ) means many dishes and does not mean only nine dishes.

⭐五十里水路到湘江 wushili shuilu dao xiangjiang
>It would take fifty miles (Chinese metric unit approx 500m for a Chinese mile ) of water route from Liuyang River to reach Xiang River

⭐江边有个湘潭县 jiang bian you ge xiangtan xian
>There is a Xiangtan county on the side of the river

⭐出了个毛主席 chule ge mao zhuxi
>where Chairman Mao was born

⭐领导人民得解放 lingdao renmin de jiefang
>who led the liberation of the people.

Below are some pictures depicting the bends of Liujiang River (source : the internet) :

You can find the song sung beautifully by acclaimed singer Song Zuying 宋祖英 at YT as shown below: