Lǎobīng huíyì dāngnián zhànháo lǐ de yě jú, gǎntàn zhàndìhuánghuāfènwàixiāng.
The old soldier recalled the wild chrysanthemums in the trenches, sighing that 'battlefield flowers smell all the more fragrant.'
Tips
history
From Mao Zedong's 《采桑子·重阳》 (1929), written at the Min-Yue-Gan revolutionary base during the civil war: 人生易老天难老，岁岁重阳。今又重阳，战地黄花分外香 (Human life easily ages, heaven ages hard; year after year, Double Ninth. Now Double Ninth comes again - the battlefield chrysanthemums smell all the sweeter). It uses the Chongyang (Double Ninth / chrysanthemum) festival to frame revolutionary struggle.
usage
分外 here = exceptionally, all the more (not 'outside one's share'). 黄花 specifically means chrysanthemums (菊花) in classical poetry, the signature Double-Ninth flower. A favorite quote in Chinese patriotic and military contexts.
