离离原上草

離離原上草
Lílí yuán shàng cǎo
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 lush, lush the grass on the plain
  2. 2 the plain is thick with grass
  3. 3 opening line of Bai Juyi's celebrated early poem

Examples

HSK 5
Cǎoyuán lǚyóu, yǎnqián zhēnshì lílíyuánshàngcǎo de jǐngxiàng.
Touring the grasslands, the scene before one really is 'lush, lush the grass on the plain.'
HSK 7-9
" Lílíyuánshàngcǎo, yīsuìyīkūróng " jīhū rénrén néng bèi.
'Lush, lush the grass on the plain, withering and flourishing year by year' - nearly everyone can recite it.

Tips

history
From the Tang-dynasty poet Bai Juyi's 《赋得古原草送别》: '离离原上草一岁一枯荣野火烧不尽春风吹又生。' By tradition the sixteen-year-old Bai Juyi presented this poem to the official 顾况, who first teased him over the high cost of living in the capital, then, after reading it, declared that with lines like these living anywhere would be easy.
usage
The opening 离离 is a reduplicated descriptor for lush, thriving grass, read lílí, not líli or lǐlǐ. It is usually quoted together with 野火烧不尽春风吹又生 (wildfire never burns it all away, the spring wind blows and it grows again).

Stroke Order

yuán
shàng
cǎo