黃金甲 – Bilingual Lyrics Chinese/English

• By: 周杰倫

Lyrics & Translation

Embark on a linguistic journey with Jay Chou's "黃金甲" (Golden Armor)! This epic track, a powerful blend of traditional Chinese sounds and modern rock, is the theme song for the blockbuster movie "Curse of the Golden Flower." Its dramatic lyrics, rich in historical and martial imagery, offer an immersive way to explore Chinese vocabulary and cultural storytelling, making it a special piece for language learners and music enthusiasts alike.

[English]

Banners like a rainbow, mountains piled like peaks

This army winds like a dragon, killing intent like the wind, blood red like wine

General, I am proud like a rush, my expression fierce like a beast

Golden armor like loyalty, iron cavalry galloping like thunder, like thunder

Scenery like winter, desolate like the wind

Offensive like a bow, soul severed like in a dream

One still, one moving, like a pine, unchanged for a thousand years

Like emptiness, like emptiness, like emptiness

Blood-stained armor, I wield tears to kill

The city full of chrysanthemums, whose world is this?

Above the palace, smoke and sand

Life and death are just scars from a single knife

...

Hatred stretches like fire, sorrow etched in brows like a lock

Emotions drift, drifting, drifting through a lifetime like me

This life’s splendor like yesterday, meeting in arms like a break

Thousands of troops and horses, galloping, those bones clash like mistakes

Old battles like wine, success and failure change in an instant like autumn

Everywhere is a beacon fire, memories of war rust like rust (those memories of war rust like rust)

Is the slaughter too heavy or not? (Is the slaughter too heavy or not?) Memories of war rust like rust (those memories of war rust like rust)

Royal bloodline like a broken stream (Royal bloodline like a broken stream)

Blood-stained armor, I wield tears to kill

The city full of chrysanthemums, whose world is this?

Above the palace, smoke and sand

Life and death are just scars from a single knife

...

Armor, I wield tears to kill

The city full of chrysanthemums, whose world is this?

Above the palace, smoke and sand

Life and death are just scars from a single knife

Blood-stained armor, I wield tears to kill

With a drawn sword on horseback, let’s see who falls

Love and hate converse, history remains

Who is graceful amidst the rain of arrows?

...

[Chinese]

旌旗如虹 山堆疊如峰

這軍隊蜿蜒如龍 殺氣如風 血色如酒紅

將軍我傲氣如衝 神色悍如凶

黃金甲如忠 鐵騎剽悍我行如轟 如轟

景色如冬 蕭瑟如風

攻勢如弓 魂斷猶如夢中

一靜一動 如松 千年不變

如空 如空 如空

血染盔甲 我揮淚殺

滿城菊花 誰的天下?

宮廷之上 狼煙風沙

生死不過一刀的疤

仇恨綿延如火 愁入眉頭如鎖

情感漂泊漂泊 漂泊一世如我

今生繁華如昨 兵戎相見如破

千軍萬馬萬馬 萬馬奔騰那骨頭相殘如錯

陳年戰事如酒 成敗轉眼如秋

遍地烽火烽火 烽火回憶如鏽 (那烽火回憶如鏽)

殺戮過重如否 (那殺戮過重如否) 烽火回憶如鏽 (那烽火回憶如鏽)

皇室血脈如斷流 (皇室血脈如斷流)

血染盔甲 我揮淚殺

滿城菊花 誰的天下?

宮廷之上 狼煙風沙

生死不過一刀的疤

盔甲 我揮淚殺

滿城菊花 誰的天下?

宮廷之上 狼煙風沙

生死不過一刀的疤

血染盔甲 我揮淚殺

橫刀立馬 看誰倒下

愛恨對話 歷史留下

誰在亂箭之中瀟灑?

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
旗 /qí/ A2	noun - flag
山 /shān/ A1	noun - mountain
疊 /dié/ B2	verb/noun - to pile up / pile
軍隊 /jūnduì/ B1	noun - military army
殺氣 /shàqì/ B2	noun - a murderous aura / killing intent
血色 /xuèsè/ B2	adjective/noun - blood-colored / blood hue
將軍 /jiāngjūn/ B1	noun - general (military rank)
傲氣 /àoqì/ B2	noun - pride / arrogance
忠 /zhōng/ B1	adjective - loyal / faithful
鐵騎 /tiěqí/ B2	noun - cavalry / armored horsemen
轟 /hōng/ C1	verb/noun - to roar / loud noise / thunder
景色 /jǐngsè/ A2	noun - scenery / landscape
冬 /dōng/ A1	noun - winter
風 /fēng/ A1	noun - wind
攻勢 /gōngshì/ B2	noun - offensive / attack strategy
魂 /hún/ B1	noun - soul / spirit
夢中 /mèngzhōng/ B2	noun - in a dream / dreamlike state

Key Grammar Structures

• 旌旗如虹 山堆疊如峰

  ➔ A 如 B (A is like B). This uses 如 to create similes and metaphors.

  ➔ The line uses the structure "A 如 B" multiple times. "旌旗"(banners) are "如虹" (like rainbows) and mountains are "如峰" (like peaks), creating vivid imagery. The word "如" functions as "like" or "as" for comparison.

• 將軍我傲氣如衝 神色悍如凶

  ➔ Again, using '如' for simile: "A 如 B". Describing qualities.

  ➔ "傲氣如衝" (arrogance like a charge) and "神色悍如凶" (countenance fierce like a beast). This line uses "如" to compare abstract and concrete qualities, emphasizing the general's power and ferocity.

• 血染盔甲 我揮淚殺

  ➔ Subject-Verb-Object structure is standard.

  ➔ "血染盔甲" (blood stains armor - literally: blood dyes armor) - Blood is staining the armor. "我揮淚殺" (I shed tears and kill) - emphasizes the internal conflict despite the brutal action. The verb "揮" (to wave/brandish) implies active agency.

• 滿城菊花 誰的天下?

  ➔ Rhetorical question using 誰 (who) to emphasize uncertainty and loss.

  ➔ The question "誰的天下?" (Whose kingdom is it?) implies that even with conquest, ownership is fleeting. The juxtaposition of beautiful chrysanthemums with the chaos of war amplifies the tragedy.

• 仇恨綿延如火 愁入眉頭如鎖

  ➔ Parallel structure using '如' for simile: A 如 B, C 如 D. Showcasing intense emotions.

  ➔ "仇恨綿延如火" (hatred spreads like fire) and "愁入眉頭如鎖" (sorrow enters eyebrows like a lock). This demonstrates the persistent and binding nature of these emotions. The parallel structure reinforces the weight and inevitability of the suffering.

• 情感漂泊漂泊 漂泊一世如我

  ➔ Repetition for emphasis and pathos. The final '如' links the speaker's life to the concept of wandering.

  ➔ The repetition of "漂泊" (wandering/drifting) emphasizes the instability and lack of belonging. "一世如我" (a lifetime like me) directly equates the speaker's existence with this rootless state.