Symbols are the key to Xu Gang's "Red Azalea on the cliff," a poem that examines the challenges and beauty that life has to offer.
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The red flower is one of the most important symbols Gang uses throughout the poem to create an ambiguous impression about love. Love can be both attractive and risky at the same time. In the poem the author uses words like "smile", "sweetness", and "intimacy" when describing the flower, Gang creates such a perfect image of the flower that perhaps a person would to smell it, and pick it to just feel its smoothness. On the other hand, when Gang compares the flower to the yellow mountain he uses contrasting words, for example "sweetness encloses slyness" and "intimacy and distance" to show the dual nature of beauty and love. The location of the flower is not as "sweet" as the red flower itself. The red flower s located on the cliff side of the mountain. In order for a person to reach the destination of the flower it would take a lot of courage. Yes, the flower is vivid an attractive, but getting the flower is very risky.
Furthermore, like the location of the azalea love is also risky. In most cases, when a person falls in love with another, beauty on the exterior is always a factor. In addition, like the azalea's beauty, when a person is looking at the flower if the person decides to go on the cliff side of the mountain it would actually be a risk because getting there is very dangerous. Like love when the beauty of a person attracts another if the person decides to go ahead and get into a relationship with that person, it would also be a risk. For example, The poet says, ""you make my heart shudder with fear! A body could smash and bones splinter in the canyon." In addition, just as a person attracted by the beauty of the azalea can fall into the canyon and be killed, a person can also fall in love and be hurt emotionally. Therefore, Gang equates the flower and love with all the beauty and danger of both.
