Tilling Illustration 16

Bringing to the Threshing Floor

The year’s grains are bountiful and the "ten thousand treasures" are complete, original: wanbao, a poetic term for all the various crops and fruits of the earth.
We build the threshing floor to receive the crop, stacking it high as a hill. original: jing. While this word often means "capital city," in this agricultural context it refers to a massive mound or granary stack.
Looking back on the days of watching the apricot blossoms and the rushes, Watching the apricot blossoms (wangxing) and rushes (zhanpu) refers to the early spring and summer months when the farmers first began their work.
The memory of so much hard work makes this moment’s joy feel even stronger.

Red rice is harvested in the tenth month,
White water once soaked the dikes and paths. A reflection on the irrigation phase seen in earlier illustrations.
The brew is ripe and the farming family celebrates;
The threshing floor is new as the year’s work reaches its peak.
Fragrance wafts from the cloud-like piles of grain,
The stacks rise layer upon layer like accumulated dew.
The exhaustion of three seasons has finally passed;
Fortunately, we can now rely on our daily meals. original: yongsun, specifically referring to breakfast and dinner, symbolizing basic sustenance and survival.

Today at the threshing floor we see the harvest's completion; original: xicheng, literally "Western Completion." In traditional Chinese five-element theory, the West is associated with Autumn and the harvest.
Reports of "Great Abundance" are sent frequently to the Imperial Capital.
The cart frames are full of grains like white jade;
Even the neighbors cannot help but smile.