绿树村边合

綠樹村邊合
lǜ shù cūn biān hé
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 green trees ring the village
  2. 2 a village enclosed by an unbroken stand of green trees
  3. 3 lit. green trees, village edge, closing in

Examples

Qìchē shǐrù shāncūn, zhēnshì lǜshùcūnbiānhé de jǐngxiàng.
As the car entered the mountain village, it was exactly the scene of "green trees closing in around the village".
Zhè fú huà miáohuì lǜshùcūnbiānhé de tiányuán yìjìng.
This painting portrays the pastoral mood of "green trees ringing the village".

Tips

history
From Meng Haoran's (孟浩然, Tang dynasty) 《故人》: 绿青山 — 'Green trees close in around the village edge; blue mountains slope away beyond the outer wall.' The quintessential Tang pastoral couplet, memorized in Chinese schools.
usage
Almost always cited together with its twin 青山. here means 'to close in / form a ring', not 'to combine'. The line is a classic example of Tang parallelism (绿/青山 — village/wall).

Stroke Order

绿
shù
cūn
biān