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良辰美景奈何天

liángchén měijǐng nàihé tiān
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 a fine hour, a fair scene - but what can heaven do?
  2. 2 beauty of the moment is wasted when one has no one to share it with
  3. 3 (literally) good-hour fair-scene, what to do, heaven?

Examples

HSK 7-9
她独自看花，叹一句良辰美景奈何天。
Tā dúzì kàn huā, tàn yī jù liángchénměijǐng nàihétiān.
Alone among the flowers, she sighed, 'a fine hour, a fair scene - but what can heaven do?'
HSK 7-9
良辰美景奈何天，赏心乐事谁家院，这是《牡丹亭》最出名的唱段。
Liángchénměijǐng nàihétiān, shǎngxīnlèshìshéijiāyuàn, zhè shì 《 Mǔdāntíng 》 zuì chūmíng de chàngduàn.
'A fine hour, fair scene - what can heaven do? The joys of the heart - whose courtyard now?' - the most famous aria from The Peony Pavilion.

Tips

history
From 汤显祖 《牡丹亭·惊梦》 (Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion, 1598, Ming dynasty kunqu opera). The heroine 杜丽娘 (Du Liniang), awakening to her own youth in the garden, sings: 原来姹紫嫣红开遍，似这般都付与断井颓垣。良辰美景奈何天，赏心乐事谁家院 (All these reds and purples bloom unseen - given over to ruined wells and crumbled walls. A fine hour, a fair scene - but what can heaven do? The joys of the heart - in whose courtyard now?). The aria 《皂罗袍》 is the single most-quoted passage in all Chinese drama.
usage
奈何 is classical for 'what can one do about...' (modern: 无可奈何). Always quoted paired with 赏心乐事谁家院. Used today both sincerely (wistful solo beauty) and for lovelorn irony.

Stroke Order

良 liáng
辰 chén
美 měi
景 jǐng
奈 nài
何 hé
天 tiān