Hán ShíCold Food Day 寒食
Han Hong on the Cold Food festival in Chang'an: flying petals, palace willows.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
春城无处不飞花
chūn chéng wú chǔ bù fēi huā
寒食东风御柳斜
hán shí dōng fēng yù liǔ xié
Simplified characters; traditional title: 寒食. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.
Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.
English translation
In the spring city, nowhere are petals not flying;
on Cold Food Day the east wind bends the palace willows.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Han Hong on the Cold Food festival in Chang'an: flying petals, palace willows. The scene stays with you.
Background
Han Hong on the Cold Food festival in Chang'an: flying petals, palace willows.
Key words
- 寒食 hán shí
- key word in the poem
- 御柳 yù liǔ
- key word in the poem
- 汉宫 hàn gōng
- key word in the poem
About the poet: Han Hong
Han Hong is famous for the Cold Food Festival quatrain.
Lifetime: Mid Tang. Other famous works: Cold Food Day (寒食).