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SOUL HOME
Comrade,
Let Me Bid You Goodbye at the Boarding Gate
Five years have passed
I remember not how many times
We have shaken hands here and said goodbye
Lofty ideals reach the clouds, time and again
You walk over the five continents
Lofty sentiments and banners, time and again
How many dawns
How many thousands of miles
How many celebrations our pride as Chinese bespeak
For this once-in-a-thousand-year proud raising of head
For the Confucius Institute to blossom all over the world
You have striven
You have endured
Every night your office windows have shone upon
Bingjiaokou [Name of a lane where the Confucius In-
stitute Headquarters is located]
Fast deployment and speedy march
Against time grand strategies we did devise
Old and new, high and low,
shoulder to shoulder we did forge ahead
O, Younger arms
A tower of Chinese language eduation have raised
Comrade
Today you fly away in time of Spring
When we can meet again I know not
I have a bellyful of words
Blocking my chest
Silent tears of parting I cannot help
True, what follows Spring is not Autumn
Right, we should not worry about our age
Yet in this materialistic age
When hearts have strayed from ancient simplicity
O, Precious comradeship
Where is it to be found?
Where does it exist?
My comrade’s hands I hold firm
Brave this parting ’cause you are a true man
Do not cry
Do not look back
Sing the song For Whom?
And part in high spirit as you did before
Comrade
Let me bid you goodbye at the boarding gate
Confucius Institute
VOLUME 13 | NO.2 MAR. 2011
Director General of Hanban
Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters
Xu Lin