p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Discord

红掌拨清波

紅掌撥清波
hóngzhǎngbōqīngbō
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 red webs paddle the clear ripples
  2. 2 (fig.) the charming image of geese swimming — a beloved children's-poem line
  3. 3 (lit.) red palm push clear-wave

Examples

白毛浮绿水，红掌拨清波，这首咏鹅诗小朋友都会背。
Bái máo fú lǜ shuǐ, hóng zhǎng bō qīng bō, zhè shǒu Yǒng É shī xiǎopéngyǒu dōu huì bèi.
'White feathers float on green water, red webs paddle the clear ripples' — every child can recite this Ode to the Goose.
池塘里的鹅游过，真如红掌拨清波的画面。
Chítáng lǐ de é yóu guò, zhēn rú hóng zhǎng bō qīng bō de huàmiàn.
Geese crossing the pond — truly the image of 'red webs paddling clear ripples.'

Tips

history
From 骆宾王《咏鹅》(Luo Binwang, early Tang; legend says composed at age 7, ~ 632 CE): 鹅，鹅，鹅，曲项向天歌。白毛浮绿水，红掌拨清波 (Goose, goose, goose — crooked neck singing to sky. White feathers float on green water; red webs paddle clear ripples). The most widely taught first-poem in modern mainland primary school; almost every Chinese child learns it before age six.
usage
Always quoted as the couplet with 白毛浮绿水 — the color-contrast (white/green/red/clear) is the pedagogical point. 掌 here = 'web/palm' of the goose's foot, not 'palm of a hand' in the human sense.

Stroke Order

红 hóng
掌 zhǎng
拨 bō
清 qīng
波 bō