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轻罗小扇扑流萤

輕羅小扇撲流螢
qīngluóxiǎoshànpūliúyíng
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 with a light silk fan, she swats at drifting fireflies
  2. 2 (fig.) a quintessential image of idle, lonely beauty on a summer night
  3. 3 (lit.) light — silk — small — fan — swat — drifting — firefly

Examples

夏夜月下，孩子学古诗轻罗小扇扑流萤。
Xià yè yuè xià, háizi xué gǔshī qīng luó xiǎo shàn pū liú yíng.
On the summer night by moonlight, the child learned the old line 'with a light silk fan, she swats at drifting fireflies.'
她穿着汉服，轻罗小扇扑流萤，画面极美。
Tā chuānzhe hànfú, qīng luó xiǎo shàn pū liú yíng, huàmiàn jí měi.
Dressed in hanfu, 'silk fan swatting fireflies' — the image was exquisite.

Tips

history
From 杜牧《秋夕》 (Du Mu, Tang, 9th c.), a 28-character palace-lament quatrain: 银烛秋光冷画屏，轻罗小扇扑流萤。天阶夜色凉如水，坐看牵牛织女星 (Silver candle, autumn light, cold painted screen; a light silk fan swats at drifting fireflies. The night on the stone steps is cool as water — she sits watching the Cowherd and Weaver Girl stars). The poem's 'she' is read as a palace lady exiled to solitude, her life — like the useless summer fan in autumn — passed over and forgotten.
usage
罗 here = 'fine silk gauze' (the fabric), not 'net.' 扑 = to swat at (fireflies). 流萤 = drifting fireflies — a classical reduplication-equivalent binomial. Sometimes mis-quoted with 捕 (catch); the canonical character is 扑.

Stroke Order

轻 qīng
罗 luó
小 xiǎo
扇 shān
扑 pū
流 liú
萤 yíng