Zhè jù jiā jì wú wàng gào nǎi wēng dào jìn le Lù Yóu yīshēng de zhíniàn.
This line — 'at the family rite, don't forget to tell your old father' — captures Lu You's lifelong obsession.
Tips
history
From Lu You's (陆游, Southern Song dynasty) deathbed poem 《示儿》: 死去元知万事空，但悲不见九州同。王师北定中原日，家祭无忘告乃翁 — 'Dying, I know all things are empty; only grief that I did not see the nine provinces reunited. On the day royal armies retake the Central Plains, at the family sacrifice do not forget to tell your old father.' Lu You died in 1210 with the north still under Jurchen rule; this is his instruction to his sons.
usage
乃 (nǎi) is classical for 'your'; 翁 (wēng) is 'old man / father.' So 乃翁 = 'your father' (referring to the poet himself). This is the single most famous patriotic-final-words couplet in Chinese history; Chinese students still recite it.
