菊花台 Chrysanthemum Terrace

• Title: 菊花台
• Date: 2006
• Singer: 周杰倫
• Lyrics: 方文山
• Music: 周杰倫
• 編曲：鍾興民

Lyrics

你的淚光， 柔弱中帶傷， 慘白的月彎彎勾住過往。
夜太漫長， 凝結成了霜， 是誰在閣樓上冰冷的絕望。
雨輕輕彈， 朱紅色的窗， 我一生在紙上被風吹亂。
夢在遠方， 化成一縷香， 隨風飄散你的模樣。

[refrain]
菊花殘，滿地傷，
你的笑容已泛黃。
花落人斷腸。 我心事靜靜躺。
北風亂，夜未央， 你的影子剪不斷。
徒留我孤單， 在湖面成雙。

花已向晚， 飄落了燦爛， 凋謝的世道上命運不堪。
愁莫渡江， 秋心拆兩半， 怕你上不了岸一輩子搖晃。
誰的江山， 馬蹄聲狂亂， 我一身的戎裝呼嘯滄桑。
天微微亮， 你輕聲的嘆， 一夜惆悵如此委婉。

[refrain]
The pedals are scattered; Your smile is fading.
Leaving me heartbroken; In my troubled mind.
The windy darkness of night; Still holds your shadow.
But you are nowhere to be found.

Chrysanthemum is fading away;
As the world falls apart

My heart is breaking in two;
You teeter towards the river bank

Battle horses are running wild;
Leaving me behind in my armor

Your sighs at daybreak;
Blow away the dark night

The English translation is from a TV subtitle. The first verse is omitted, and the translation is liberal and heavily abridged, but gets the point.

Female Version

Here's the best female performance.

This singer, Li Yugang (李玉刚) (born 1978) is actually male, but performs both male and female voice.

You can see him perform both male and female vocals here:

Curse of the Golden Flower

This is the theme song of the movie Curse of the Golden Flower 满城尽带黄金甲.

The beautiful lyrics of the theme song - “Chrysanthemum Terrace” is written by Vincent Fang (lyricist) (方文山) (born 1969)

The movie is based on the play Thunderstorm (雷雨), written by Cao Yu (曹禺) (1910 to 1996), and also partially based on a rebel Huang Chao 黄巢 in history (see below).

The play Thunderstorm is about 2 families, their relationship, stem from incest. Here's a exerpt from Wikipedia:

The subject matter of Thunderstorm is the complex relationship between the members of two households -- the Zhou family, upper class and wealthy, the Lu family low class and poor. Specifically, the plot of Thunderstorm centers on the Zhou family's psychological and physical destruction as a result of incest, as perpetrated at the hands of its morally depraved and corrupt patriarch, Zhou Puyuan. Thirty years earlier he sends away the maid Lu Ma having fathered two children with her. Lu Ma's daughter Sifeng returns to become a maid in her place, and falls in love with the young master -- her own brother -- Zhou Ping, who is having an affair with his step -- mother Zhou Fanyi. Zhou Ping discards his step -- mother for the maid -- his sister, Sifeng. Sifeng is pursued by the other “young master” Zhou Chong, son of Zhou Puyuan and Zhou Fanyi. The play concludes with Sifeng and the two young masters dead, Zhou Fanyi insane, and Lu Ma grief -- stricken.

from Thunderstorm (雷雨)

《雷雨》是一齣四幕悲剧，剧作完全运用了三一律，叙述了两个家庭八个人物在短短一天之内发生的故事，然而在里面却牵扯了过去剪不断，理还乱的恩恩怨怨。狭小的舞台上不仅突现了伦常的矛盾，阶级的矛盾，还有个体对于环境，时代强烈不谐调的矛盾，在种种剧烈的冲突中完成了人物的塑造。其实悲剧早已潜伏在每一句台词，每一个伏笔中，只是到最后时分才终于爆发出来，化作一场倾盆雷雨，无比强烈的震撼了每个人的灵魂。

— Elvis Mak

The title of the movie, is derived from a poem:

待到秋來九月八，我花開後百花殺。沖天香陣透長安，滿城盡帶黃金甲。

When autumn comes on Double Ninth Festival, my flower will bloom and all others perish. When the sky-reaching fragrance permeates Chang'an, the whole city will be clothed in golden armor.

this poem is written by a rebel Huang Chao (黄巢) (year 835 to 884)