人面桃花相映红

人面桃花相映紅
rénmiàntáohuāxiāngyìnghóng
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 her face and the peach blossoms set each other aglow
  2. 2 a beautiful face among blossoms
  3. 3 classical image of youthful radiance

Examples

Chūn rì táoyuán lǐ, shàonǚ xiàoyè yíngyíng, zhēn shì rén miàn táo huā xiāng yìng hóng.
Amid the spring peach orchard, the girl's smile bloomed — truly 'her face and the peach blossoms set each other aglow.'
Nà zhāng zhàopiàn rén miàn táo huā xiāng yìng hóng, chéng le tā zuì xǐhuan de liúyǐng.
In that photo her face and the peach blossoms glowed together — it became her favorite portrait.

Tips

history
From Cui Hu's (, Tang dynasty) 《城南》: 去年今日桃花不知何处桃花依旧春风 — 'This day last year, at this gate, her face and the peach blossoms set each other aglow. The face is gone, no one knows where; the peach blossoms still laugh in the spring breeze.' The poem gave rise to the idiom 桃花 (yearning for a lost beauty).
usage
The shortened four-character form 桃花 is a canonical idiom for nostalgic longing — the sight of old surroundings without the person who made them beautiful. This longer seven-character line is the original source.

Stroke Order

rén
miàn
táo
huā
xiāng
yìng
hóng