只把春来报

只把春來報

zhǐbǎchūnláibào

phrase

Meanings

1 only to announce that spring has come
2 (fig.) the plum blossom's selfless role — heralding spring without seeking glory
3 (lit.) only take spring coming, announce

Characters

(object-fronting preposition)

Examples

梅花开了，正是只把春来报。

Méihuā kāile, zhèng shì zhǐ bǎ chūn lái bào.

The plum blossoms have opened — truly 'only to announce that spring has come.'

做默默奉献的人，俏也不争春，只把春来报。

Zuò mòmò fèngxiàn de rén, qiào yě bù zhēng chūn, zhǐ bǎ chūn lái bào.

Be a quiet, devoted person — 'lovely but not vying for spring, only announcing its arrival.'

Tips

history

From 毛泽东《卜算子·咏梅》(Mao Zedong, 1961), written as an explicit response/inversion of Lu You's melancholic 咏梅: 风雨送春归，飞雪迎春到。已是悬崖百丈冰，犹有花枝俏。俏也不争春，只把春来报。待到山花烂漫时，她在丛中笑 (Wind and rain send spring back, flying snow greets spring's arrival. Already cliffs hold a hundred-zhang ice, yet a flower-branch is lovely. Lovely, but not vying for spring — only announcing spring's arrival. When mountain flowers blaze in riot, she laughs among the crowd). A political poem written amid the Sino-Soviet split.

usage

Inseparable from 俏也不争春. 把 here is the 把-construction preposition: 把 A 报 = 'announce A.' 只 = only. This couplet is quoted to praise a humble forerunner who serves a larger cause without personal ambition.

Stroke Order

只 zhǐ

把 bǎ

春 chūn

来 lái

报 bào