旧时王谢堂前燕

舊時王謝堂前燕

jiùshíWángXiètángqiányàn

phrase

Meanings

1 the swallows that once nested in the halls of Wang and Xie
2 vanished glory symbolized by the swallows that used to perch at the mansions of the great

Characters

Examples

旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。

Jiùshí Wáng Xiè táng qián yàn, fēi rù xúncháng bǎixìng jiā.

Swallows that once nested in the halls of Wang and Xie now fly into the homes of ordinary people.

这座昔日豪宅如今成了博物馆，真是旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。

Zhè zuò xīrì háozhái rújīn chéng le bówùguǎn, zhēn shì jiùshí Wáng Xiè táng qián yàn, fēi rù xúncháng bǎixìng jiā.

This former grand mansion is now a museum — truly the swallows that once perched at the halls of Wang and Xie now fly into the homes of ordinary folk.

Tips

history

From Liu Yuxi's 《乌衣巷》 (Tang dynasty): 朱雀桥边野草花，乌衣巷口夕阳斜。旧时王谢堂前燕，飞入寻常百姓家。 'Wang' and 'Xie' are the Wang Dao and Xie An clans — the dominant aristocratic families of the Eastern Jin dynasty, whose mansions stood on Wuyi Lane in Jiankang (modern Nanjing). By Liu Yuxi's day, their glory was long gone — only the swallows remained, now nesting among commoners.

usage

Wang and Xie are proper names, capitalized in pinyin. The line is the classic Chinese image of 'fallen from glory' — used when something once exclusive becomes ordinary.

Stroke Order

旧 jiù

时 shí

王 wáng

谢 xiè

堂 táng

前 qián

燕 yàn