Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 05-02-12 11:03
梁對梁 (Liang2 Dui Liang2 )
This is a passionate story that set in the town of Song Kou (松口) in Mei
Xian
(梅縣) in Guandong province (廣東省). A young man and a young woman were
deeply in love, but they were not allowed to get married because both of
them had the same surname of Liang (梁). In olden days, according to the
Chinese tradition people with the same surname were forbidden to intermarried
as they were supposed to have come from the same ancestor. Therefore it
was considered they might have the same kind of blood and it was not fashionable
to get married. There was an old saying,Tong Xing Bu Fan (同姓不蕃) or couple
with same surname would not produce intelligent offspring.
In order to escape from this love affair the young man decided to go to
Nanyang
(南洋 present day Malaysia and Singapore). Secretly, without telling his
lover he packed and went to the jetty on the river and boarded a little
boat headed for Guangzhou (廣州), the capital of Guangdong province (廣東
省). Somehow the girl discovered his plan and rushed to the jetty to persuade
him not to go.
This was how they expressed themselves in folk song in Hakka mountain song
Female sang 女唱:
妹系姓梁郎姓梁,
兩人共姓各祠堂,
妹是西風郎是雨,
西風透雨涼對涼.
My surname is Liang and your surname is also Liang,
Although we bear the same surname our ancestral halls are different,
I am like the west wind and you the rain,
When the west wind passes through the rain it is cold matching cold*.
Male sang 男唱:
:
圳頭行下青草湖,
妹也唔使再三留,
捨時十分捨唔得,
怨得屋家唔好圖.
After passing Chuan Tou it is the Green Grass Lake,
Please do not urge me to stay,
However, at the moment I am not willing to part with you,
By leaving you my family will not hate us.
Female sang 女唱:
松口行下銅琵橋,
轉眼來看望江樓,
一對鴛鴦少一只,
還有一只水上漂.
After Songkou it is the Copper Pipa Bridge,
Looking around you can see the River Tower,
For the pair of mandarin ducks there is only one left,
The other one is floating on the water.
Male sang 男唱:
聽妹唱歌俺心慌,
東流江水渺又茫,
那有利刀能割水,
如今流水割斷腸.
Listening to your singing fills me with pain,
The river water, that flows eastward, is boundless,
Where to find a sharp knife that can cut through water,
Now, the flowing water is cutting through my heart.
Female sang 女唱:
趕哥趕到蓬辣頭,
妹子唱哥唱啞喉,
千聲萬句留不住,
恰似有天無日頭..
Pursuing you I arrive at the Penglatou,
The singing and urging you to stay back I now have a sore throat,
Thousands of words have been spoken yet you do not want to stay,
It is like the sky without sun.
Male sang 男唱:
日頭一出光華華,
想著妹子想著家,
燈草跌落湧水角,
一條心事放唔下.
When the sun rises the sky is bright,
I am thinking of you and my family,
The rush** drops to the place where the water gushes out,
I just cannot release the worries in my mind.
The young man was moved by the passionate love of the young woman.
Picking up his baggage he got off the boat and followed the young woman
back to the village. Eventually they eloped to a far away place to get married
and settled down there. What happened to their offspring no one knew.
Note:
*cold in Hanyu Pinyin is Liang (涼), same pronunciation as the surname Liang
(梁).
**rush is a kind of marsh plants with hollow stems. In olden days people
used them as wicks in the lamps.
Posted to asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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