白日依山尽

白日依山盡
Bái rì yī shān jìn
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 the white sun leans against the mountains and is gone
  2. 2 the sun sets behind the ranges
  3. 3 lit. white sun against the mountain finishes

Examples

HSK 6
Bái rì yī shān jìn, Huáng Hé rù hǎi liú.
The white sun sinks behind the mountains; the Yellow River flows into the sea.
HSK 7-9
Xīnshǎng rìluò shí, xiǎngdào Bái rì yī shān jìn de shīyì.
Watching the sunset, one recalls the poetic image "the white sun leans against the mountains and is gone".

Tips

history
From Wang Zhihuan's (王之涣, Tang dynasty) 登鹳雀楼: 白日依山尽,黄河入海流。欲穷千里目,更上一层楼 - "The white sun leans against the mountains and sinks; the Yellow River flows on into the sea. If you would exhaust the thousand-li view, climb one more storey up." Twenty characters that every Chinese child memorizes. The second couplet 欲穷千里目,更上一层楼 is one of the most quoted proverbs in the language.
usage
here = "to lean against". = "to finish", the sun "runs out" behind the mountain. Parallels 黄河入海流 in the next line: sun vs river, ending vs continuing.

Stroke Order

bái
shān
jìn