床前明月光

Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 bright moonlight before my bed
  2. 2 the opening image of Li Bai's most famous homesickness poem

Examples

HSK 4
' Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng ' jīhū měige Zhōngguó xiǎohái dōu huì bèi.
Almost every Chinese child can recite 'Bright moonlight before my bed.'
HSK 7-9
Yèlǐ xǐnglái, guǒrán yǒu ' chuáng qián míng yuè guāng ' de gǎnjué.
Waking up at night, I really felt the 'bright moonlight before my bed' feeling.

Tips

history
Opening of Li Bai 李白's 《静夜思》 (Tang): '床前明月光,疑是地上霜。举头望明月,低头思故乡。' (Before my bed bright moonlight - I thought it was frost on the ground. Raising my head I look at the bright moon; lowering my head I think of home.) The single most memorised Chinese poem of all time.
usage
'' here traditionally meant a low couch or well-railing, not a modern Western bed; scholars still debate the exact referent. Always quoted alongside the following three lines.
culture
Often the first Tang poem Chinese children learn - used as a cultural shorthand for both homesickness and 'basic Chinese literacy.'

Stroke Order

chuáng
qián
míng
yuè
guāng