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蒌蒿满地芦芽短

蔞蒿滿地蘆芽短
lóuhāomǎndìlúyáduǎn
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 wormwood covers the ground, reed shoots are still short
  2. 2 (fig.) the precise early-spring moment when riverbanks first green
  3. 3 (lit.) wormwood fills the ground, reed-sprouts short

Examples

三月长江岸边，蒌蒿满地芦芽短，正是河豚上市的时候。
Sānyuè Chángjiāng àn biān, lóuhāo mǎn dì lú yá duǎn, zhèng shì hétún shàngshì de shíhou.
On the Yangtze banks in March — 'wormwood covers the ground, reed shoots are still short' — exactly when pufferfish hit the markets.
画上春景，题字蒌蒿满地芦芽短，意境十足。
Huà shàng chūnjǐng, tízì lóuhāo mǎn dì lú yá duǎn, yìjìng shízú.
The spring landscape is inscribed with 'wormwood covers the ground, reed shoots are short' — full of poetic atmosphere.

Tips

history
From 苏轼《惠崇春江晚景》(Su Shi, Northern Song, 1085), inscribed on a painting by the monk-artist Huichong: 竹外桃花三两枝，春江水暖鸭先知。蒌蒿满地芦芽短，正是河豚欲上时 (Beyond the bamboo, two or three peach blossoms; the spring river warms — the ducks know first. Wormwood covers the ground, reed shoots are still short — just when pufferfish want to swim upstream). A foodie's poem: Su Shi famously loved Yangtze pufferfish (河豚), and this line dates the exact season to serve them.
usage
蒌蒿 (lóuhāo) = a riverside wormwood, edible spring vegetable. 芦芽 = new reed sprouts. Paired naturally with the next line 正是河豚欲上时. Quote the whole couplet for any early-spring foodie post.

Stroke Order

蒌 lóu
蒿 hāo
满 mǎn
地 dì
芦 lú
芽 yá
短 duǎn