The old novels of immortals and knights-⁠errant.

紛紛五代¹亂離間，一旦雲開復見天。草木百年新雨露，車書²萬里舊江山。尋常巷陌陳羅綺，幾處樓臺奏管弦。天下太平無事日，鶯花無限日高眠。

纷纷五代¹乱离间，一旦云开复见天。草木百年新雨露，车书²万里旧江山。寻常巷陌陈罗绮，几处楼台奏管弦。天下太平无事日，莺花无限日高眠。

Amid the welter of the Five Dynasties¹, all chaos and scattering,one day the clouds broke and the sky was seen again.A hundred years of new rain and dew on the grass and trees;ten thousand miles of the old hills and rivers, one in axle and script².In common lanes and alleys silks and gauzes are on show;from tower and terrace, here and there, come pipes and strings.All under heaven at peace, the days without a care,amid endless orioles and blossoms, men sleep till the sun is high.

1. 1Five Dynasties 五代五代The five short-lived dynasties that followed one another in northern China between the fall of the Tang in 907 and the founding of the Song in 960.
2. 2Axle and script 車書车书From the old saying ‘carts run on one axle width, books are written in one script’: a figure for an empire made whole again.