他乡 carries strong literary and emotional weight in Chinese — the homesickness of being far from one's
故乡 (gùxiāng, hometown). The opening line of Wang Wei's Tang poem 《
九月九日忆山东兄弟》— '
独在异乡为异客' (often quoted as
独在他乡为异客) — captures the feeling: 'Alone in a strange land, a stranger.' The chengyu
他乡遇故知 ('to meet an old friend in a far-off land') describes one of life's great joys.
