岁岁年年人不同

歲歲年年人不同

suìsuìniánniánrénbùtóng

phrase

Meanings

1 year after year the people are different
2 the flowers return the same, but the people who see them change (reflection on time)

Characters

Examples

年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同。

Nián nián suì suì huā xiāngsì, suì suì nián nián rén bù tóng.

Year after year the flowers look the same, but year after year the people are different.

同学聚会上，真有‘岁岁年年人不同’的感慨。

Tóngxué jùhuì shàng, zhēn yǒu ‘suì suì nián nián rén bù tóng’ de gǎnkǎi.

At the class reunion, I truly felt the sigh of ‘year after year the people are different.’

Tips

history

From Liu Xiyi 刘希夷's early-Tang 《代悲白头翁》: ‘年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同。’ (Year upon year the flowers look alike; year upon year the people differ.) Traditional tale says Liu's uncle Song Zhiwen 宋之问 killed him to steal this couplet — likely apocryphal but shows how prized these lines were.

usage

Always paired with 年年岁岁花相似. 岁岁年年 and 年年岁岁 are reduplicated pairs that intensify ‘year after year.’

Stroke Order

岁 suì

年 nián

人 rén

不 bù

同 tóng