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蒌蒿满地芦芽短

蔞蒿滿地蘆芽短
lóuhāo mǎn dì lú yá duǎn
quotation

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 ànbiān, lóuhāomǎndìlúyáduǎn, zhèngshì 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 chūn jǐng, tízì lóuhāomǎndìlúyáduǎn, 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