吴刚

吳剛

Wú Gāng

proper noun

Meanings

1 Wu Gang
2 mythological woodcutter sentenced to chop a self-healing laurel on the moon

About Wu Gang

A man sent to the moon in Chinese myth for a fault in his search for immortality, made to fell an osmanthus tree that heals after every cut. He shares the moon with 嫦娥, and 吴刚伐桂 means an endless task.

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

传说月亮上住着吴刚和嫦娥。

Chuánshuō yuèliang shàng zhù zhe Wú Gāng hé Cháng'é.

Legend says Wu Gang and Chang'e live on the moon.

HSK 7-9

吴刚每天都要砍那棵桂花树。

Wú Gāng měitiān dōu yào kǎn nà kē guìhuā shù.

Every day Wu Gang has to chop that osmanthus tree.

HSK 7-9

吴刚伐桂的故事家喻户晓。

Wú Gāng fá guì de gùshi jiāyùhùxiǎo.

The story of Wu Gang chopping the osmanthus is known in every household.

Tips

culture

The story first appears in the Tang miscellany 《酉阳杂俎》, which makes the tree 500 zhang (well over a kilometre) tall. 毛泽东 gave him a kinder job in a 1957 poem for two fallen revolutionaries: 吴刚捧出桂花酒, 'Wu Gang brings out osmanthus wine' to welcome their souls.

In Pop Culture

吴刚伐桂 Wú Gāng fá guì

Wu Gang chops the osmanthus

Proverbial phrase for an endless futile task, the Chinese counterpart to the Sisyphus myth.

嫦娥 Cháng'é

Chang'e

Moon goddess who drank an elixir of immortality and flew to the moon; shares the lunar palace with Wu Gang in later myth.

Stroke Order

吴 Wú

刚 gāng

吴刚