This song has been my favourite song in the entire album from Jay. Recently, a colleague send to me the meanings of the song and how this song makes use of the metaphor of porcelain to describe love and separation. Separation doesn’t always have to be painful and sad, it can be inscribed for life in memories and in the heart, just like paintings on porcelain, glazed and fixed for eternities. The pain and the sadness can pass with time, but the beauty of the love will always stay...



For those who are interested in the lyrics, here's the Chinese, Han Yu Pin Ying as well as it's English translated version.

周杰倫 - 青花瓷

素胚勾勒出青花筆鋒濃轉淡
Su pei gou le chu qin hua bi feng nong zhuan dan
The brush outlines a beautiful pattern, brush strokes becoming lighter

瓶身描繪的牡丹一如妳初妝
ping shen miao hui de mu dan yi ru ni chu zhuang
The peony on the bottle, simplest beauty, just like you

冉冉檀香透過窗心事我了然
ran ran tan xiang tou guo chuang xin shi wo liao ran
Whiffs of incense smoke bring your troubles to my heart

宣紙上走筆至此擱一半
xuan zhi shang zou bi zhi ci ge yi ban
I pause halfway while painting

釉色渲染仕女圖韻味被私藏
you se xuan ran shi nu tu yun wei bei si cang
The glazing of the lady’s portrait hides her charm

而妳嫣然的一笑如含苞待放
er ni yan ran de yi xiao ru han bao dai fang
Your smile, to me, like a budding flower

妳的美一縷飄散 去到我去不了的地方
ni de mei yi lu piao san qu dao wo qu bu liao de di fang
But your beauty dissipates like smoke, to a place I can never reach

天青色等煙雨 而我在等妳
tian qin se deng yan yu er wo zai deng ni
The perfect shade of blue awaits the right weather, like how I wait for you

炊煙裊裊昇起 隔江千萬里
chui yan niao niao sheng qi ge jiang qian wan li
From a thousand miles away, I gaze at the curling chimney smoke

在瓶底書漢隸仿前朝的飄逸
zai ping di su han li fang qian cao de piao yi
The calligraphy beneath the bottle, elegance of the Han Dynasty

就當我為遇見妳伏筆
jiu dang wo wei yu jian ni fu bi
Our meeting I foreshadowed

天青色等煙雨 而我在等妳
tian qin se deng yan yu er wo zai deng ni
The perfect shade of blue awaits the right weather, like how I wait for you

月色被打撈起 暈開了結局
yue se bei da lao qi yun kai le jie ju
The moonlight smudged away the remnants of our ending

如傳世的青花瓷自顧自美麗 妳眼帶笑意
ru zhuan shi de qin hua ci zi gu zi mei li ni yan dai xiao yi
Like legendary porcelain obsessed with itself, your eyes full of laughter

色白花青的錦鯉躍然於碗底
se bai hua qin de jin li yue ran yu wan di
Those blue carp seem to come alive on the white bowl

臨摹宋體落款時卻惦記著妳
lin mo song ti luo kuan shi que dian ji zhe ni
While I am imitating the Song inscription I’m thinking of you

妳隱藏在窯燒裡千年的秘密
ni yin cang zai yao shao li qian nian de mi mi
The eon of secrets you buried in the kiln

極細膩猶如繡花針落地
ji xi ni you ru xiu hua zhen luo di
It’s exquisiteness like an embroidery needle

簾外芭蕉惹驟雨門環惹銅綠
lian wai ba jiao re zhou yu men huan re tong lu
The banana tree outside brought the sudden downpour, and in turn the copper rust on the door handle

而我路過那江南小鎮惹了妳
er wo lu guo na jiang nan xiao zhen re le ni
My passing by Jiangnan brings me to you

在潑墨山水畫裡 妳從墨色深處被隱去
zai po mo shan shui hua li ni cong mo se shen chu bei yin qu
Yet you fade away into the deep abyss of the Chinese painting