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红豆生南国

紅豆生南國
hóngdòushēngnánguó
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 red beans grow in the southern country
  2. 2 the opening line of Wang Wei's poem on lovesickness-seeds
  3. 3 evokes longing, tokens of love, and memory of a far-off friend

Examples

红豆生南国，春来发几枝。
Hóngdòu shēng nán guó, chūn lái fā jǐ zhī.
Red beans grow in the southern country; come spring, how many branches sprout?
她在信末写道红豆生南国，暗示着相思之情。
Tā zài xìn mò xiě dào hóngdòu shēng nán guó, àn shì zhe xiāngsī zhī qíng.
At the letter's end she wrote 'red beans grow in the southern country,' hinting at her longing.

Tips

history
From Wang Wei's (王维, Tang dynasty) 《相思》: 红豆生南国，春来发几枝。愿君多采撷，此物最相思 — 'Red beans grow in the southern country; come spring, how many branches sprout? I hope you gather many of them — nothing carries longing quite like these.' Four lines that made the 相思豆 (red bean, Abrus precatorius) the Chinese token of love and friendship for a thousand years.
culture
红豆 here is not the kidney/adzuki bean but the bright-red seed of the coral bean tree (相思子 / 红豆树), traditionally gathered in Guangdong and Guangxi. Still sold today as keepsakes and wedding gifts. The whole poem is memorized by almost every Chinese schoolchild.

Stroke Order

红 hóng
豆 dòu
生 shēng
南 nán
国 guó