把酒话桑麻

把酒話桑麻
bǎ jiǔ huà sāng má
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 raising a cup and chatting about mulberry and hemp
  2. 2 drinking wine and making small talk about farming
  3. 3 rustic pastoral camaraderie with old friends

Examples

Huídào lǎojiā hé péngyǒu bǎjiǔhuàsāngmá, gǎnjué géwài fàngsōng.
Back home, drinking with friends and talking about crops — I felt especially at ease.
Kāixuānmiànchǎngpǔ, bǎjiǔhuàsāngmá — — nà cái shì tiányuán shēnghuó.
'Open the window facing the garden, lift a cup and chat of mulberry and hemp' — that's real country life.

Tips

history
From Meng Haoran's (孟浩然, Tang dynasty) 《故人》: 故人绿青山把酒菊花 — the most famous rustic-visit poem in Tang verse. An old friend sets out chicken and millet, opens the window to the garden, and they drink and talk about the harvest.
usage
literally 'mulberry and hemp' is a classical metonym for farming in general (mulberry leaves feed silkworms, hemp provides fiber). The phrase is now used for any down-to-earth chat between old friends over drinks.

Stroke Order

jiǔ
huà
sāng