左岸 (zuǒ'àn): Left Bank (of a river, esp. Par…

Meanings

1 Left Bank (of a river, esp. Paris)
2 Rive Gauche

Characters

左

Examples

巴黎左岸是文人和艺术家聚集的地方。

Bālí zuǒ'àn shì wénrén hé yìshùjiā jùjí de dìfāng.

The Paris Left Bank is where writers and artists gathered.

她在塞纳河左岸开了一家小咖啡馆。

Tā zài Sàinà Hé zuǒ'àn kāi le yī jiā xiǎo kāfēiguǎn.

She opened a small café on the Left Bank of the Seine.

Tips

culture

Although 左岸 literally just means 'left bank of a river', in Chinese it has become shorthand — through cafes, books, and design brands — for the Bohemian Paris of Sartre, Hemingway, and Picasso. A 左岸 cafe in Beijing or Shanghai is signaling that aesthetic, not geography.

usage

Looking downstream, the left side is the 左岸 and the right is the 右岸 (yòu'àn). For the Seine in Paris this places the Sorbonne, Saint-Germain, and Montparnasse on the Left Bank.