p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Discord

田园将芜胡不归

田園將蕪胡不歸
tiányuánjiāngwúhúbùguī
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 the fields and gardens are about to run wild — why not return?
  2. 2 (fig.) urgent call to abandon official life and go home to nature
  3. 3 (lit.) field-garden about-to overgrow why not return

Examples

他厌倦了城市喧嚣，常自语田园将芜胡不归。
Tā yànjuànle chéngshì xuānxiāo, cháng zì yǔ tiányuán jiāng wú hú bù guī.
Tired of city noise, he often mutters to himself, 'the fields are running wild — why not go home?'
辞职回乡，朋友们说他有陶渊明田园将芜胡不归的情怀。
Cízhí huí xiāng, péngyǒumen shuō tā yǒu Táo Yuānmíng tiányuán jiāng wú hú bù guī de qínghuái.
He quit his job and returned to the countryside — his friends said he had Tao Yuanming's 'why not go home' spirit.

Tips

history
The opening line of 陶渊明《归去来兮辞》(Tao Yuanming, Homecoming Rhapsody, 405 CE). Tao, just resigned from his 80-day magistracy at Pengze, writes: 归去来兮，田园将芜胡不归！既自以心为形役，奚惆怅而独悲？(Let me go home! The fields and gardens are almost lost to weeds — why do I not return? Since my heart has been servant to my body, why these regrets, why this lonely grief?). Arguably the founding text of the Chinese reclusion tradition — every later retirement poem echoes it.
usage
胡 here is a classical interrogative meaning 'why' (= 何), not 'barbarian' or 'recklessly'. The line is typically recited as the opening of the whole 辞, not alone. Modern use: a highbrow way to announce leaving the rat race.

Stroke Order

田 tián
园 yuán
将 jiāng
芜 wú
胡 hú
不 bù
归 guī