1. I am destined to die with a nation intoxicated
With submission, and contentment is their drink

2. No injustice makes them angry, even if it destroys them
Can I be proud of a nation that does not get angry?

3. If a mother cries for losing her child and you deter her
From her weeping, she will stop without sobbing

4. If you prevent them from reaching the water when thirsty
And their livers are scorched, still they will not drink

5. If you drain the fat from their bodies out of toil
Still their souls do not grow weary

6. I am perplexed in finding a cure for their condition
As they disobeyed and I am confused on how to heal

7. For inanimate objects are more useful than their souls
In their defence, more resilient and firm

8. I will therefore build for them a formidable wall
Eternal like the earth, neither perishing nor decaying

9. Eras will pass and every victorious army
Outside it, yet its stability will prevail

10. Lightning will shake its shoulders wherever it wishes
Yet its shoulders will remain unshaken

11. Lightning bites it with scorching fangs
Only to have them broken, with no perforations left

12. The earth's surface sways under its feet
Yet its own feet do not slip in the saddle

13. With it, I will make the countries impregnable
So that no coveting aggressor may infiltrate

14. I will summon my kingdoms and their peoples
In my name, so their dispersed union reunites

15. With it, I will erase the relics of my ancestors
Vanishing, China's past will remain unseen

16. My era will be seen as the inception of its existence
Achieving for me the pride I yearn to acquire