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田园将芜胡不归

田園將蕪胡不歸
tiányuán jiāng wú hú bù guī
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 the fields and gardens are about to run wild — why not return?
  2. 2 (fig.) urgent call to abandon official life and go home to nature
  3. 3 (lit.) field-garden about-to overgrow why not return

Examples

他厌倦了城市喧嚣，常自语田园将芜胡不归。
Tā yànjuàn le chéngshì xuānxiāo, cháng zìyǔ tiányuánjiāngwúhúbùguī.
Tired of city noise, he often mutters to himself, 'the fields are running wild — why not go home?'
辞职回乡，朋友们说他有陶渊明田园将芜胡不归的情怀。
Cízhí huíxiāng, péngyǒumen shuō tā yǒu Táoyuānmíng tiányuánjiāngwúhúbùguī de qínghuái.
He quit his job and returned to the countryside — his friends said he had Tao Yuanming's 'why not go home' spirit.

Tips

history
The opening line of 陶渊明《归去来兮辞》(Tao Yuanming, Homecoming Rhapsody, 405 CE). Tao, just resigned from his 80-day magistracy at Pengze, writes: 归去来兮，田园将芜胡不归！既自以心为形役，奚惆怅而独悲？(Let me go home! The fields and gardens are almost lost to weeds — why do I not return? Since my heart has been servant to my body, why these regrets, why this lonely grief?). Arguably the founding text of the Chinese reclusion tradition — every later retirement poem echoes it.
usage
胡 here is a classical interrogative meaning 'why' (= 何), not 'barbarian' or 'recklessly'. The line is typically recited as the opening of the whole 辞, not alone. Modern use: a highbrow way to announce leaving the rat race.

Stroke Order

田 tián
园 yuán
将 jiāng
芜 wú
胡 hú
不 bù
归 guī