各领风骚数百年

各領風騷數百年

gè lǐng fēngsāo shù bǎi nián

quotation

Meanings

1 each leads the literary scene for several hundred years
2 different eras produce their own dominant writers, each preeminent in its own time
3 lit. each - leads - wind-and-sao (literature) - several hundred years

Characters

(the Airs of the Book of Odes)

骚

sāo

(the Li Sao) - together: poetry/literature

Examples

HSK 4

江山代有才人出，各领风骚数百年。

Jiāngshān dài yǒu cáirén chū, gè lǐng fēngsāo shù bǎi nián.

Age after age the rivers-and-mountains produce new talents; each leads the literary scene for several hundred years.

HSK 7-9

每代作家各领风骚数百年，没有永远的顶峰。

Měi dài zuòjiā gè lǐng fēngsāo shù bǎi nián, méiyǒu yǒngyuǎn de dǐngfēng.

Each generation of writers leads its age for a few centuries - there is no permanent summit.

Tips

history

From Zhao Yi's (赵翼, Qing dynasty) 《论诗五首》 (second poem): 李杜诗篇万口传，至今已觉不新鲜。江山代有才人出，各领风骚数百年 - 'The poems of Li and Du are on ten thousand mouths; by now we feel they are no longer fresh. Age after age the rivers and mountains send forth talents, each leading the literary scene for several hundred years.' A famously sharp Qing reassessment of the Tang canon.

usage

Almost always cited with its setup 江山代有才人出. 风骚 literally = 风 (the Airs of the 诗经) + 骚 (the 离骚) - together, a metonym for literature and poetry at the highest level.

Stroke Order

各 gè

领 lǐng

风 fēng

骚 sāo

数 shù

百 bǎi

年 nián