What does it mean that clothes are better than the new than the old?

It means: although the clothes are better than new, the person is still the best of the old.

This poem is from the article abandoned woman poem "Ancient Yan Ge" written by Anonymous in Han Dynasty

Original poem

"Ancient Yan Ge"

All alone, all alone, I walk in the east and look in the west.

Clothes are not as good as new, people are not as good as old.

Translation

The abandoned woman who is forced to run away is like a lonely white rabbit that goes east and then west. She is forced to leave, but she doesn't want to go, but she can't help it, and she is still in love with her old friends. The clothes are new, but the people are still the best.

Expanded:

Allusion

Ming Dynasty Jiang Yikui in "Yao Shan Tang Wai Ji Volume 3" records the origin of the "Ancient Yan Song": Dou Xuan appearance is absolutely different, the son of heaven to make out of his wife, his wife to the princess. His wife sent a letter to him, saying, "I have abandoned my wife and rejected my daughter, and I would like to apologize to Dou Sheng: I am inferior to you, and I am not as good as you. Concubine day to distant, he day to pro. What accusation, I call Cang? Woe to Dou Sheng! Clothes do not get tired of the new, people do not get tired of the old. Sorrow cannot be endured, resentment cannot be removed. Who is the only one who lives in this place?" Another song reads, "Standing all alone, the white rabbit walks in the east and looks in the west. Clothes are not as good as new, people are not as good as the old." This song was also known as "Yan Song" (艳歌).

(Translation: Dongxuan's appearance was so amazing that the Son of Heaven gave him a wife, and gave him the princess as his wife. The princess was sad and resentful, and wrote: "(Dongxuan) abandoned his wife and rebuked me, saying that I was of low birth and shallow in knowledge, and that I was no match for a nobleman. I am getting farther and farther away from him day by day. Why do I complain and cry out to the heavens? How pathetic Dongxuan is! Clothes don't hate the new, people don't hate the old. Sorrow is hard to bear, and resentment cannot leave.

What kind of man is that, and to be in this place?" And he sang, "The white rabbit, lonely and without support, flees eastward and looks westward. The old clothes are not as good as the new, and the old man is still better than the new." (At that time the people took pity on her and sang it, also called Yan Song.)

"Standing all alone, the white rabbit flees to the east and looks to the west."

The first two lines of this poem start with an animal, and in the middle of the poem there is a simile, using the animal as a metaphor for a person, comparing himself to the person he was sent out to and finally fell in love with. "The first two lines of the poem are about animals, and the first two lines of the poem are about animals, and the first two lines of the poem are about animals.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Ancient Songs