之乎者也 [zhī hū zhě yě] [English translation]

Knowing it is regarded as knew it. Care about those things that (common people) did not care about.

Who is this person? This person is the venerable Master Confucius.1

Knowing it, (but he regarded it as) not knowing it. Everything, (he) all did not care about them.

Who is this person? This person is Monk Han Shan.2

Not knowing it, but he pretended he knew it. He cared about those things that people did not care.

Who is this person? It is the Qi person.3

Long time ago, our ancestors all once said something like this.

Long time ago, our ancestors all once said something like this.

Now, listen to our youth; what are they talking about?

However, you have to take a look: What on earth do you want them to do?

Scissors are waiting it 4; (hair is like) a bowl of clear soup with noodles hanging down on the face.

Revere teachers and respect the way, there is nothing more than this.5

Wind, flower, snow and moon; crashing sound and crashing sound;

Those so called folk songs, whether or not they all are like this?6

zhi1 zhi1 zhi1 zhi1 zhi1

hu1 hu1 hu1 hu1 hu1

zhe3 zhe3 zhe3 zhe3 zhe3

ye3 ye3 ye3 ye3 ye3

Long time ago, our ancestors all once said something like this.

Long time ago, our ancestors all once said something like this.

Now, listen to our youth; what are they singing about?

However, you have to think: What on earth do you want them to do?

(Only) open one eye; mouth randomly shouts;

Cover up ears; everyone all will be happy.

Everyone all knows it; everyone all cares.

Those who watch with folded arms7 are — you and me.8

1. 之,乎,者 and 也 are arranged in order in this line to echo the title of the song.2. 寒山 literally means cold mountains. 寒山子, 691~793 was a monk of Tang Dynasty. 子 is a noun suffix.3. 齐人 Qi ren was an ignorant and stupid person who lived in the state of Qi. There is an idiom about him called 齐人之福 ( Qi ren zhi fu – The good fortune of the Qi person.4. 之 is a classical pronoun, and here, it refers to students’ hair5. This ironically means in order to obey the rule of school and listen to what the teacher says, in the past, the students needed to cut their hair pretty short and ugly.6. 风花雪月 is an idiom; literally it means wind, flower, snow and moon, and the four subjects usually are trite poetry subjects. Thus, metaphorically speaking, these four words are used to refer to effete language without substance.7. 袖手旁观 is an idiom which means to watch with folded arms or to look on without lifting a finger.8. 大家都知之, 大家都在乎 and 袖手旁观者, 你我是也 contrast with each other. Everyone knows and everyone cares, however, in reality, everyone is an onlooker and doesn’t do anything about it. So, does anyone care? Nah.