Zuiweng Ting Ji: The Old Drunkard’s Joy Was Never in the Wine
Grandevity Studio sets Ouyang Xiu’s complete Northern Song masterpiece Zuiweng Ting Ji, Record of the Old Drunkard’s Pavilion, to newly composed music. A cinematic Chinese narrative moves from Langya Mountain and Brewing Spring through the four seasons, the people of Chuzhou and a joyful banquet, finally arriving at the governor’s joy in the joy of others.
Most readers remember one line from Ouyang Xiu’s Zuiweng Ting Ji:
The Old Drunkard’s intention is not in the wine, but in the mountains and waters.
It is one of the most famous sentences in Classical Chinese prose.
But it is not the final answer of the essay.
Read to the end, and the meaning of joy keeps expanding.
The birds know the joy of the mountain forest.
The people of Chuzhou know the joy of wandering through it.
The guests know the joy of the banquet.
And the governor finds his own joy in theirs.
The people know the joy of following the governor on his outings, but they do not know that the governor takes joy in their joy.
That final transformation is the heart of Zuiweng Ting Ji.
Grandevity Studio’s musical setting uses Ouyang Xiu’s complete original text, with no modern lyrical expansion, no paraphrased chorus and no newly written lyrics.
The composition follows the actual sung progression of the finished work:
mountains and pavilion → morning, evening and four seasons → the people of Chuzhou and the governor’s feast → the guests’ joy and the governor’s drunkenness → sunset and the birds → the governor’s joy and Ouyang Xiu’s final self-identification.
What begins as landscape finally becomes a vision of shared human joy.
Watch the MV: 🎬 Zuiweng Ting Ji | Official Music Video
Headphones recommended. Begin among the mist-covered mountains surrounding Chuzhou. Follow the path into Langya Mountain, hear the water before Brewing Spring appears, and discover the Old Drunkard’s Pavilion above it. Move through morning and evening, spring, summer, autumn and winter; then watch the landscape fill with travellers, villagers, children, elders and guests. The feast reaches its height before sunset empties the mountain again. Birds return to the forest, and the final movement reveals the deeper meaning of the governor’s joy.
The Essay Begins with Mountains, Not with the Governor
The first sentence is famously economical:
環滁皆山也。
All around Chuzhou are mountains.
Ouyang Xiu does not begin with himself.
He begins with geography.
The prose then narrows its field of vision.
The southwestern peaks.
The beautiful forests and valleys.
Langya Mountain.
A mountain path.
The sound of running water.
Brewing Spring.
And only after the peaks turn and the road bends does the pavilion appear.
This movement from the immense to the intimate gives the prose a cinematic quality long before cinema existed.
The human figure does not dominate the landscape.
He enters it.
The Old Drunkard’s Intention Is Not in the Wine
Ouyang Xiu introduces himself with humour.
The governor comes to drink with his guests.
He becomes drunk after little wine and, being the eldest among them, calls himself the Old Drunkard.
Then comes the celebrated sentence:
醉翁之意不在酒，在乎山水之間也。
The Old Drunkard’s intention is not in the wine, but in the mountains and waters.
Yet the next sentence is equally important:
山水之樂，得之心而寓之酒也。
The joy of the landscape is received in the heart and entrusted to the wine.
Wine is a vessel.
The real event occurs in perception.
The cup may be small, but what is placed within it is an entire landscape and the human capacity to respond to it.
Morning, Evening and the Four Seasons
The second movement of the essay gives the landscape to time.
Sunrise opens the forest mist.
Returning clouds darken the rocky hollows.
Spring flowers release a subtle fragrance.
Summer trees produce abundant shade.
Autumn wind and frost bring clarity.
Winter lowers the water and exposes stone.
Ouyang Xiu never declares one season superior to another.
The reason is contained in his conclusion:
四時之景不同，而樂亦無窮也。
The scenery of the four seasons is different, and the joy is inexhaustible.
Joy is inexhaustible precisely because the world does not remain the same.
Attention can meet it again and again.
When the People of Chuzhou Enter the Landscape
The essay then makes a decisive transition.
Ordinary people appear.
Those carrying loads sing along the road.
Travellers rest beneath trees.
Those ahead call.
Those behind answer.
The elderly and children move together.
People come and go without end.
Ouyang Xiu calls this:
滁人遊也。
The outing of the people of Chuzhou.
The landscape is no longer a private aesthetic possession.
It has become shared space.
This is where the meaning of joy begins to move beyond the cultivated individual.
The mountain belongs not merely to the governor who appreciates it, but to the people who walk, rest, sing and gather within it.
The Governor’s Feast Grows Directly from the Landscape
The feast does not arrive from some distant world of luxury.
Fish come from the stream.
Wine is made from Brewing Spring.
Mountain foods and wild vegetables are arranged before the guests.
The banquet belongs to the same landscape that produced the opening of the essay.
Nature, local life and human fellowship remain continuous.
“The Joy of the Feast Was Not in Strings or Flutes”
宴酣之樂，非絲非竹。
The joy of the feast does not depend on strings or flutes.
There is no need for elaborate entertainment.
Some guests score in pitch-pot.
Others win at board games.
Cups and tally sticks cross.
People rise, sit, speak and laugh.
The essential conclusion is simple:
眾賓歡也。
The guests are joyful.
And among them sits the governor himself:
grey-faced,
white-haired,
relaxed,
drunk.
He does not stand apart from the happiness of others.
He is physically within it.
When the Visitors Leave, the Birds Recover the Mountain
Soon the sun reaches the mountain.
Human shadows scatter.
The governor returns.
His guests follow.
The woods grow dark.
Bird calls rise and fall.
Then Ouyang Xiu writes:
遊人去而禽鳥樂也。
The visitors have gone, and the birds are joyful.
This matters because human joy does not erase the joy of the natural world.
People come.
People celebrate.
People leave.
The forest continues.
The essay that began with mountains now begins to return to them.
The Governor Takes Joy in Their Joy
The final movement establishes several levels of joy.
Birds know the joy of the mountain forest, but not the joy of human beings.
People know the joy of following the governor on his outings.
But they do not understand the governor’s own joy:
人知從太守遊而樂，而不知太守之樂其樂也。
The phrase 樂其樂 is the philosophical centre of the work.
The governor takes joy in their joy.
His deepest pleasure is therefore not simply private enjoyment of beautiful mountains.
It is relational.
He is happy because the people around him are able to be happy.
This is why the true climax of Zuiweng Ting Ji comes later than its most famous sentence.
“The Old Drunkard’s intention is not in the wine” opens the idea.
“The governor takes joy in their joy” completes it.
Drunk, He Shares Their Joy; Sober, He Writes It Down
The final lines join drunkenness, fellowship and literature:
醉能同其樂， 醒能述以文者， 太守也。
Drunk, he can share their joy.
Sober, he can describe it in writing.
A mountain outing passes.
A feast ends.
Sunset arrives.
People go home.
But writing preserves the experience.
Only at the end does Ouyang Xiu ask:
太守謂誰？
Who is the governor?
And answer:
廬陵歐陽修也。
Ouyang Xiu of Luling.
The Old Drunkard, the governor and the author finally become one.
Cinematic Chinese Narrative: Letting the Prose Create Its Own Climax
The musical setting is built around Cinematic Chinese Narrative / Cinematic Guofeng / Classical Chinese Fusion.
No modern chorus has been added.
No contemporary lyric interrupts the prose.
No newly written line attempts to summarise Ouyang Xiu.
Instead, the finished song follows six narrative-musical movements:
Mountains, Spring and the Old Drunkard’s Pavilion
The journey moves from Chuzhou’s mountains to Langya, Brewing Spring, the pavilion and finally the Old Drunkard himself.
Morning, Evening and the Four Seasons
Human activity recedes while time and seasonal change take control of the musical space.
The People of Chuzhou and the Governor’s Feast
The quiet mountain begins to fill with human voices and shared activity.
The Guests Rejoice, the Governor Becomes Drunk
The social energy reaches its highest point.
Sunset and the Joy of the Birds
The human world retreats and the sonic field returns to forest, evening and birdsong.
The Governor’s Joy — Ouyang Xiu of Luling
The final movement turns from collective pleasure toward the deeper idea of taking joy in the joy of others, before the author calmly reveals his own name.
The music does not manufacture a climax for the prose.
It allows the original prose enough time to reach its own.
The MV: From Landscape to Community, Then Back to Silence
The visual world is grounded in Northern Song Chuzhou and Langya Mountain.
The first movement belongs largely to landscape.
Mist.
Mountains.
Water.
A path.
Brewing Spring.
The pavilion.
The second gives the same landscape to time and season.
Only in the third movement do people begin to fill the frame.
Porters.
Travellers.
The elderly.
Children.
Villagers.
Guests.
The banquet becomes the film’s most socially vibrant section.
Then the visual direction reverses.
The sun descends.
People leave.
Shadows lengthen.
Birds return.
By the final images, the pavilion stands quietly in the mountains again.
Human celebration has passed.
The landscape remains.
The prose has preserved what happened there.
📜 Complete Lyrics / Original Text with English Translation
Ouyang Xiu, Zuiweng Ting Ji
Complete original classical text set to music
No lyrical expansion, paraphrase or newly written lyrics
【Mountains, Spring and the Old Drunkard’s Pavilion】
環滁皆山也。
All around Chuzhou are mountains.
其西南諸峰，
林壑尤美，
望之蔚然而深秀者，
琅琊也。
Among the peaks to the southwest,
the forests and valleys are especially beautiful.
The mountain that appears luxuriant, deep and graceful in the distance
is Langya.
山行六七里，
漸聞水聲潺潺，
而瀉出於兩峰之間者，
釀泉也。
After travelling six or seven li into the mountains,
one gradually hears the murmuring of water.
The spring flowing out between two peaks
is Brewing Spring.
峰迴路轉，
有亭翼然臨於泉上者，
醉翁亭也。
As the peaks turn and the path bends,
a pavilion appears, spreading its eaves like wings above the spring:
the Old Drunkard’s Pavilion.
作亭者誰？
山之僧智仙也。
Who built the pavilion?
The mountain monk Zhixian.
名之者誰？
太守自謂也。
Who named it?
The governor named it after himself.
太守與客來飲於此，
飲少輒醉，
而年又最高，
故自號曰醉翁也。
The governor came here to drink with his guests.
He became drunk after little wine,
and was also the eldest among them,
so he called himself the Old Drunkard.
醉翁之意不在酒，
在乎山水之間也。
The Old Drunkard’s intention is not in the wine,
but in the mountains and waters.
山水之樂，
得之心而寓之酒也。
The joy of the landscape
is received in the heart and entrusted to the wine.
【Morning, Evening and the Four Seasons】
若夫日出而林霏開，
雲歸而巖穴暝，
晦明變化者，
山間之朝暮也。
When the sun rises, the forest mist opens;
when clouds return, the rocky hollows darken.
These changes between brightness and shadow
are the mornings and evenings of the mountains.
野芳發而幽香，
佳木秀而繁陰，
風霜高潔，
水落而石出者，
山間之四時也。
Wild flowers bloom with subtle fragrance;
fine trees flourish in abundant shade;
wind and frost bring crystalline clarity;
the waters fall and stones emerge.
These are the four seasons of the mountains.
朝而往，
暮而歸，
四時之景不同，
而樂亦無窮也。
We go in the morning
and return at evening.
The scenery differs through the four seasons,
and the joy is inexhaustible.
【The People of Chuzhou and the Governor’s Feast】
至於負者歌於途，
行者休於樹，
前者呼，
後者應，
傴僂提攜，
往來而不絕者，
滁人遊也。
Those carrying loads sing along the road;
travellers rest beneath the trees;
those ahead call,
those behind answer;
the elderly walk beside children,
and people come and go without end.
These are the people of Chuzhou on their outing.
臨溪而漁，
溪深而魚肥，
釀泉為酒，
泉香而酒洌，
They fish beside the stream;
the stream is deep and its fish are fat.
Brewing Spring is used to make wine;
the spring is fragrant and the wine clear.
山肴野蔌，
雜然而前陳者，
太守宴也。
Mountain foods and wild vegetables
are laid out in abundance before the guests:
this is the governor’s feast.
【The Guests Rejoice, the Governor Becomes Drunk】
宴酣之樂，
非絲非竹，
The joy of the feast
does not depend on strings or flutes.
射者中，
弈者勝，
觥籌交錯，
起坐而喧譁者，
眾賓歡也。
Pitch-pot players score;
board-game players win;
cups and tally sticks cross one another;
people rise and sit amid lively conversation:
the guests are joyful.
蒼顏白髮，
頹然乎其間者，
太守醉也。
The grey-faced, white-haired man,
relaxed among them,
is the governor, drunk.
【Sunset and the Joy of the Birds】
已而夕陽在山，
人影散亂，
太守歸而賓客從也。
Soon the setting sun rests upon the mountains.
Human shadows scatter.
The governor returns, and his guests follow.
樹林陰翳，
鳴聲上下，
遊人去而禽鳥樂也。
The woods grow dark.
Bird calls rise and fall.
The visitors have gone, and the birds are joyful.
然而禽鳥知山林之樂，
而不知人之樂；
Yet the birds know the joy of the mountain forest,
but not the joy of people.
【The Governor’s Joy — Ouyang Xiu of Luling】
人知從太守遊而樂，
而不知太守之樂其樂也。
People know the joy of following the governor on his outings,
but they do not know that the governor takes joy in their joy.
醉能同其樂，
醒能述以文者，
太守也。
The one who can share their joy when drunk,
and describe it in writing when sober,
is the governor.
太守謂誰？
Who is the governor?
廬陵歐陽修也。
Ouyang Xiu of Luling.
From “My Joy” to the Joy of Others
“The Old Drunkard’s intention is not in the wine” has survived for nearly a thousand years.
But the phrase that may deserve equal attention comes much later:
the governor takes joy in their joy.
The joy of landscape means that one person remains capable of responding to the world.
The joy of the people of Chuzhou means that ordinary people are able to move through and enjoy that world.
The joy of the guests means that people can gather.
The governor’s joy is larger still.
He finds happiness in seeing these other forms of happiness exist.
The mountains remain.
The wine remains.
The Old Drunkard still becomes drunk.
But what the essay finally preserves is fellowship.
💿 Credits
- Song Title: Record of the Old Drunkard’s Pavilion
- Chinese Title: 醉翁亭記
- Classical Source: Ouyang Xiu, Zuiweng Ting Ji
- Literary Period: Northern Song Dynasty
- Literary Form: Travel prose / landscape prose
- Original Text / Complete Lyrics: Ouyang Xiu
- Lyrics Format: Complete original classical text set to music, with no modern lyrical expansion, paraphrase or newly written lyrics
- Composition / Arrangement: Suno AI v5.5 / Grandevity Studio
- Vocals: Suno AI Mandarin male vocal
- Music Production: Grandevity Studio
- AI-Assisted Visuals: ChatGPT Images
- Video Editing / Art Direction / Creative Production: Grandevity Studio
- Released by: Grandevity Limited
- Production Year: 2026
- Official MV: https://youtu.be/Z1Aot22Xplc
Music Style and Mood:
Cinematic Chinese Narrative / Cinematic Guofeng / Classical Chinese Fusion. A through-composed musical setting follows the architecture of Ouyang Xiu’s complete prose, moving from mist-covered mountains and flowing spring water through morning and evening, the changing seasons, the people of Chuzhou, the communal banquet and the governor’s drunkenness, before sunset and birdsong lead into the philosophical centre of the work: the governor’s joy in the joy of others. The final identification, “Ouyang Xiu of Luling,” closes the narrative without a newly written refrain.
⚖️ Copyright Notice
Ouyang Xiu’s classical prose work Zuiweng Ting Ji is in the public domain.
The sung text in this musical work is drawn entirely from the original classical prose, with no modern lyrical expansion, paraphrase or newly written lyrics.
The musical composition and production, sound recording, arrangement, mixing, mastering, MV visuals, cover artwork, video editing, subtitles, storyboarding, art direction, promotional copy and overall creative production were created by or lawfully produced for Grandevity Limited / Grandevity Studio and are protected, where applicable, by copyright and related rights.
Unauthorized re-uploading, redistribution, reproduction, editing, sampling, commercial use, public broadcasting, platform distribution, AI training, dataset use, remixing, or incorporation into any other audiovisual work is strictly prohibited.
Licensing Contact:
About This Project
Zuiweng Ting Ji is part of Grandevity Studio’s Classical Literature Reimagined in Music series.
The goal is not to replace classical literature with modern lyrics.
It is to allow the original language to enter sound, image and time again.
Ouyang Xiu begins with mountains.
He finds a spring.
He reaches a pavilion.
He drinks with friends.
He watches ordinary people enjoy the landscape.
He watches the guests rejoice.
He watches the birds reclaim the forest after sunset.
And by the end, the meaning of joy has changed.
The Old Drunkard’s intention was never truly in the wine.
And perhaps his deepest joy was never his alone.