山明水净夜来霜

山明水淨夜來霜
shān míng shuǐ jìng yè lái shuāng
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 hills bright, waters clean - frost arrives by night
  2. 2 (fig.) the clarifying austerity of deep autumn, sharper than summer or spring
  3. 3 (lit.) mountain-bright water-clean night-come frost

Examples

HSK 2
Běifāng de qiūtiān zhēn yǒu shānmíngshuǐjìngyèláishuāng de wèidào.
Northern autumn truly has the flavor of 'bright hills, clean waters, frost by night.'
HSK 7-9
Tā zài péngyǒuquān pèi tú shānmíngshuǐjìngyèláishuāng, ràng rén yī kàn jiù xiǎng chūmén shǎng qiū.
He captioned the photo on WeChat 'bright hills, clean waters, frost by night' - it made everyone want to go out and enjoy autumn.

Tips

history
Opening of 禹锡秋词二首·其二》 (Liu Yuxi, Autumn Songs II, No. 2, Tang, early 9th c.): 山明水净夜来霜深红浅黄高楼入骨春色 (Bright hills, clean waters, frost by night; a few trees of deep red stand out among the pale yellows. Try climbing the high tower - the clarity pierces to the bone. How could spring's riot compare?). Liu Yuxi is famous for rejecting the stock "autumn-as-melancholy" trope; for him autumn is crisper and more inspiring than spring.
usage
Always paired with the following 深红浅黄 to form a couplet. is the simplified form (traditional ). here functions as a verb-like event: "frost comes in the night."

Stroke Order

shān
míng
shuǐ
jìng
lái
shuāng