人面桃花相映红

人面桃花相映紅
rén miàn táo huā xiāng yìng hóng
quotation

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

HSK 7-9
春日桃园少女笑靥盈盈真是人面桃花相映红
Chūnrì táoyuán lǐ, shàonǚ xiàoyè yíngyíng, zhēnshì rénmiàntáohuāxiāngyìnghóng.
Amid the spring peach orchard, the girl's smile bloomed - truly 'her face and the peach blossoms set each other aglow.'
HSK 7-9
Nà zhāng zhàopiàn rénmiàntáohuāxiāngyìnghóng, 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 崔护 (Tang dynasty) 《题都城南庄》: 去年今日此门中人面桃花相映红人面不知何处去桃花依旧笑春风 - '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 人面桃花 (yearning for a lost beauty).
usage
The shortened four-character form 人面桃花 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