日照香炉生紫烟

日照香爐生紫煙
rìzhàoxiānglúshēngzǐyān
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 sunlight on Xianglu Peak breeds purple mist
  2. 2 (of Lushan) golden light turns the incense-burner peak into a smoking brazier
  3. 3 (lit.) sun shining on Incense-Burner Peak gives rise to purple smoke

Examples

Lǐ Bái de rì zhào Xiānglú shēng zǐ yān, jīhū shì měi gè xiǎoxuéshēng dōu bèi guò de jùzi.
Li Bai's 'sunlight on Xianglu breeds purple mist' is a line virtually every Chinese primary-schooler has memorized.
Qīngchén de Lúshān yúnwù liáorào, wǎnrú rì zhào Xiānglú shēng zǐ yān.
Mount Lu wreathed in morning mist — just like 'sunlight on Xianglu breeding purple smoke.'

Tips

history
Opening of 李白瀑布》(Li Bai, Tang): 瀑布三千银河 (Sunlight on Xianglu breeds purple mist; from afar the waterfall hangs like a river in front. Flying current plunges straight down three thousand feet — I think the Milky Way has fallen from the Ninth Heaven). here = (Xianglu Peak, 'Incense-Burner Peak') of Mount Lu, whose rising mist at sunrise looks like smoke from a burning incense censer.
usage
is the name of the peak, punning on 'incense burner' — the mist at dawn literally looks like smoke, hence the name and the image. Nearly always quoted as the opening of the full quatrain.

Stroke Order

zhào
xiāng
shēng
yān