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埋骨何须桑梓地

埋骨何須桑梓地
mái gǔ héxū sāngzǐ dì
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 why must one's bones be buried in one's native land?
  2. 2 a patriot leaves home for the world; don't let homesickness hold you back
  3. 3 (lit.) bury - bones - why - must - mulberry-catalpa - land (native place)

Examples

HSK 5
毛泽东少年诗埋骨何须桑梓地，人生无处不青山。
Máo Zédōng shàonián shī mái gǔ héxū sāngzǐ dì, rénshēng wúchù bù qīngshān.
The young Mao's poem: 'why must bones lie in native soil - in life, there are green hills everywhere.'
HSK 7-9
少年立志出国读书，埋骨何须桑梓地。
Shàonián lìzhì chūguó dúshū, mái gǔ héxū sāngzǐ dì.
As a youth he was determined to study abroad - 'why must one's bones lie in the native land?'

Tips

history
From 毛泽东 《七绝·改西乡隆盛诗赠父亲》 (Mao Zedong, 1910, adapted from a Japanese Meiji-era verse traditionally attributed to 西乡隆盛 Saigō Takamori, presented to his father on leaving home for school): 孩儿立志出乡关，学不成名誓不还。埋骨何须桑梓地，人生无处不青山 (This child resolves to leave the village gate; without accomplishing his studies, vowed not to return. Why must his bones lie in the mulberry-catalpa soil? - in life, green hills are everywhere). Written at age 17; now one of the most famous farewells-to-home poems of modern China.
usage
桑梓 = classical 'native place' (桑 mulberry + 梓 catalpa, the two trees elders planted by their homes per 《诗经·小雅》). Canonically paired with 人生无处不青山 ('life - nowhere lacks green hills'). 何须 = 'why must / need?'

Stroke Order

埋 mái
骨 gǔ
何 hé
须 xū
桑 sāng
梓 zǐ
地 dì