The snow is low on the branches, but not on the mud. What does it mean that the sun will blend with the sky as soon as it rises?

It means: Although bamboo is bent by heavy snow, its branches will also be stained with dirt on the ground, but when the weather clears, the sun rises and the snow melts, bamboo will still unload its baggage and hold its head high.

From Zhu Yuanzhang's "Singing Bamboo" in the Ming Dynasty: "The snow is low, although the mud is not low, when the sun comes out, it is still in harmony with the sky."

This is the reputation of integrity given to bamboo by Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of Ming Dynasty, which praises the nobility, integrity and character of bamboo, and the quality of bamboo that is not afraid of wind, frost and cold, and also implies the indomitable high-spirited fighting spirit of the poet.

The Cultural Implication of Bamboo

Bamboo has rich meanings in China culture. Its "strength" represents the strong backbone of the literati, its emptiness represents the gentleman's open mind, and its laziness represents the literati's chic and refined. So most of the houses of literati are planted with bamboo.

The chic style of Wei and Jin Dynasties, bamboo, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji and other seven people, with their free and easy Wei and Jin demeanor, left a unique voice of the seven sages of bamboo forest.

Zheng Banqiao is good at drawing bamboo, and shows the integrity of bamboo with a brush. Zheng Banqiao was convicted for the people when he was an official, and his official career was not smooth, but he still adhered to honesty. This is his most famous painting poem "Bamboo Stone". In this poem and painting, the unruly Zheng Banqiao makes bamboo grow tall and straight in the broken rocks, and the indomitable state that is not afraid of sharpening is vividly on the paper.