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儿童相见不相识

兒童相見不相識
értóngxiāngjiànbùxiāngshí
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 the children, on seeing me, do not recognize me
  2. 2 He Zhizhang's line about returning home after decades — the villages are the same but the kids are strangers

Examples

他出国三十年才回村，儿童相见不相识，心里一阵心酸。
Tā chūguó sānshí nián cái huí cūn, értóng xiāngjiàn bù xiāngshí, xīnlǐ yī zhèn xīnsuān.
He only returned to the village after thirty years abroad — the kids didn't know him, and his heart ached.
老同学回母校，儿童相见不相识，笑问客从何处来。
Lǎo tóngxué huí mǔxiào, értóng xiāngjiàn bù xiāngshí, xiào wèn kè cóng héchù lái.
The old alum returned to his school — the children didn't know him, and smilingly asked where the visitor had come from.

Tips

history
From 《回乡偶书·其一》 by 贺知章 (He Zhizhang, Tang dynasty): '少小离家老大回，乡音无改鬓毛衰。儿童相见不相识，笑问客从何处来.' He Zhizhang wrote it after retiring to his hometown at age 86 after a 50+ year absence. Canonical Chinese textbook poem about homecoming.
usage
相 here is the grammatical marker 'toward one another / a target' (same as in 相信, 相爱), not 'appearance.'

Stroke Order

儿 ér
童 tóng
相 xiāng
见 jiàn
不 bù
识 shí