八月十八潮

bā yuè shíbā cháo
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 the great tidal bore of the eighth month, eighteenth day
  2. 2 the famous Qiantang River tidal bore
  3. 3 (lit.) the tide of the eighteenth of the eighth month

Examples

Měinián bāyuèshíbācháo, Qián táng Jiāng liǎng'àn dōu jǐmǎn le guān cháo de rén.
Every year for the eighteenth-day tide, both banks of the Qiantang River are packed with spectators.
Sūshì bǐxià de bāyuèshíbācháo, qìshì kěwèi zhuàngguāntiānxiàwú.
The eighteenth-day tide Su Shi described had a grandeur matched nowhere else.

Tips

history
From Su Shi's (苏轼) Song-dynasty poem 《八月十五五绝》 (Watching the Tide on the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month). Line: 『八月十八壮观天下』— 'the eighteenth-day tide of the eighth month, a spectacle unmatched on earth.' It refers to the Qiantang River () tidal bore near Hangzhou, which peaks around the 18th day of the 8th lunar month, still drawing huge crowds today.
culture
The Qiantang bore () is the largest tidal bore in the world, with waves up to 9 meters. The 18th day of the 8th lunar month — just after Mid-Autumn Festival — is traditionally when the bore peaks, giving this phrase a fixed meaning for Chinese readers.

Stroke Order

yuè
shí
cháo