明月何时照我还

明月何時照我還
míngyuèhéshízhàowǒhuán
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 bright moon, when will you shine on my way home?
  2. 2 (fig.) longing to return to one's native place
  3. 3 (lit.) bright-moon what-time shine-on me return

Examples

Tā zài wài piāobó duōnián, měi féng jiājié biàn tàn míngyuè héshí zhào wǒ huán.
Having drifted abroad for years, each festival he sighs 'bright moon, when will you light my way home?'
Yóuzǐ sīxiāng, Wáng Ānshí yī jù míngyuè héshí zhào wǒ huán dào jìn xīnshēng.
For the wanderer missing home, Wang Anshi's line 'bright moon, when will you light me home?' says it all.

Tips

history
Closing line of 王安石》(Wang Anshi, Northern Song, ca. 1075): 春风绿江南明月何时 (Jingkou and Guazhou — just one stretch of water apart; Bell Mountain is blocked by only a few ranges. The spring wind has greened the south banks of the river again — bright moon, when will you light my way home?). Famous for the word 绿 (greened): Wang reputedly tried , , , before settling on 绿 as a verb — the classic example of Chinese poetic revision.
usage
is read huán here (meaning 'return'), not hái (meaning 'still'). Always cited with the preceding line 春风绿江南. Quoted at every mid-autumn festival abroad.

Stroke Order

míng
yuè
shí
zhào
hái