天问 (Tiānwèn): Tianwen ('Questions to Heaven')…

Meanings

1 Tianwen ('Questions to Heaven'), classical poem by Qu Yuan
2 Tianwen, China's Mars exploration program

Characters

天

Examples

《天问》是屈原的长诗,提出了一百多个问题。

《Tiānwèn》shì Qū Yuán de chángshī, tíchū le yī bǎi duō gè wèntí.

Tianwen is a long poem by Qu Yuan posing more than a hundred questions.

天问一号是中国首次火星探测任务。

Tiānwèn Yī Hào shì Zhōngguó shǒu cì Huǒxīng tàncè rènwù.

Tianwen-1 was China's first Mars exploration mission.

Tips

history

Qu Yuan 屈原's《天问》(c. 3rd century BC) is a 1,500-character poem of unanswerable questions about cosmology, mythology, and history — China's classic exercise in cosmic doubt.

culture

China's CNSA borrowed the name in 2016 for its planetary exploration series. Tianwen-1 successfully orbited Mars and landed the Zhurong rover in 2021. Tianwen-2 (asteroid sample return) and Tianwen-3 (Mars sample return) followed.