裹头

[randall_flagg]

Hi there!

I am learning Du Fus "Song of the Wagons" 杜甫的兵车行。

http://www.chinese-poems.com/conscript.html

and I have idea as to what the meaning of 裹头 is. Is it like a rite of passage, e.g. welcoming young men into adulthood?

Thanks,

Randall

[Yang Rui]

I think that at the time, it was a custom for young men to wear a kind of turban. So his head was wrapped in a turban at the time he left (a symbol of youth) and by the time he was able to get back, his hair had already turned grey (he's old).

Please others correct me if i'm wrong.

[skylee]

Take a look -> http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/cgi-bin/agrep-lindict?query=%bb%71&category=wholerecord

裹頭(巾) a wrapper for the head, a turban

.

And here -> http://content.edu.tw/junior/chinese/hl_gf/dofu/please3.htm

去時里正與裹頭 - 離家時是里正為我裹頭(因未成年)

And also here -> http://edu.zbsz.net/blogchinese/more.asp?name=bcx&id=166

生乙：老师，“去时里正与裹头”，里正为什么要给他们裹头啊？送行时还有他们的父母，为什么要里正给他们裹头呢？

师：问得好！我想，这可能是古人的一种习俗。就像今天农村的孩子参军，乡长给他们带大红花一样，还要敲锣打鼓欢送呢。书上说是因为他们年纪小，只有十五岁，自己不会裹头；书上的说法是站不住脚的。“去时里正与裹头”，实际上以乐景写哀，读起来更为伤感。

So there are at least two explanations. It was customary for men to wear these headkerchieves/turbans. Some say that because the soldiers were so young they could not put them on themselves so the village chief had to do it for them. Others say that it was a kind of ceremony for the village chief to help them wear the headkerchieves/turbans upon their departure for the battlefields.

[sissi]

wow~~~

I guess you will read the "三吏","三别",right?

Dufu is my favorite poet,I love every one of his poems.It's a pity that in 80's last centuary his domb was robbed which made most of his manuscript lost.If the script can be found(of course,It's impossible) ,I think we can have much more of his poems,for he kept writing all over his life.But his last years was in the ferment age of Tang Dynasty,so I think most of his poems didn't come down.