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不辞长作岭南人

不辭長作嶺南人
bù cí cháng zuò Lǐngnán rén
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 I wouldn't mind being a Lingnan man for life
  2. 2 I would gladly settle in the south for good
  3. 3 (lit.) not decline to long be a Lingnan person

Examples

HSK 7-9
这儿的荔枝这么甜，真是不辞长作岭南人。
Zhèr de lìzhī zhème tián, zhēnshì bùcíchángzuòlǐngnánrén.
The lychees here are so sweet, I really wouldn't mind being a Lingnan man for life.
HSK 7-9
他爱上广东菜，扬言不辞长作岭南人。
Tā àishàng Guǎngdōngcài, yángyán bùcíchángzuòlǐngnánrén.
He fell in love with Cantonese food and declared he'd gladly live in the south forever.

Tips

history
From Su Shi's (苏轼) Song-dynasty poem 《惠州一绝 / 食荔枝》 (Quatrain at Huizhou / Eating Lychees). Full quatrain: 罗浮山下四时春，卢橘杨梅次第新。日啖荔枝三百颗，不辞长作岭南人 - 'at the foot of Luofu Mountain, four seasons of spring; kumquats and bayberries ripen in turn. Eating three hundred lychees a day, I wouldn't mind being a Lingnan man forever.' Su wrote it while exiled to Huizhou in 1094, making wit out of political disgrace.
usage
Lingnan (岭南) = 'south of the ranges' = roughly modern Guangdong and Guangxi. In Su Shi's time this was a harsh place of exile; his line gently mocks that by saying the lychees alone make the banishment worthwhile. Often quoted as a foodie's declaration of love for the south.

Stroke Order

不 bù
辞 cí
长 cháng
作 zuò
岭 lǐng
南 nán
人 rén