岳阳 (Yuèyáng): Yueyang, prefecture-level city in Hunan Province

Meanings

1 Yueyang, prefecture-level city in Hunan Province
2 site of the famous Yueyang Tower beside Dongting Lake

Characters

岳

sun; south side of a mountain or north side of a river

Examples

岳阳楼是中国古代四大名楼之一。

Yuèyánglóu shì Zhōngguó gǔdài sì dà mínglóu zhī yī.

Yueyang Tower is one of the four great towers of ancient China.

我们从岳阳坐船游览了洞庭湖。

Wǒmen cóng Yuèyáng zuò chuán yóulǎn le Dòngtíng Hú.

We took a boat from Yueyang to tour Dongting Lake.

Tips

history

Yueyang is best known for 岳阳楼, immortalized in Fan Zhongyan's 《岳阳楼记》 (1046) — the source of the famous line 先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐 ('worry before the world worries, rejoice only after the world rejoices'), a defining ethic of Confucian officialdom.