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Yóu Shān Xī CūnVisiting a Village West of the Mountains 游山西村

Lu You (陆游, also known as Lu Yu, Fangweng)｜Southern Song｜seven-character regulated verse

Lu You: "just when the road seems to end, another village appears."

Original Chinese text with pinyin

莫笑农家腊酒浑
mò xiào nóng jiā là jiǔ hún

丰年留客足鸡豚
fēng nián liú kè zú jī tún

山重水复疑无路
shān chóng shuǐ fù yí wú lù

柳暗花明又一村
liǔ àn huā míng yòu yī cūn

箫鼓追随春社近
xiāo gǔ zhuī suí chūn shè jìn

衣冠简朴古风存
yī guān jiǎn pǔ gǔ fēng cún

从今若许闲乘月
cóng jīn ruò xǔ xián chéng yuè

拄杖无时夜叩门
zhǔ zhàng wú shí yè kòu mén

Simplified characters; traditional title: 遊山西村.

English translation

Do not laugh at the farmers' cloudy year-end wine;

in a good harvest year they keep guests with plenty of chicken and pork.

Mountain upon mountain, stream upon stream — the path seems gone;

then dark willows, bright flowers — another village.

Flutes and drums follow one another, the spring festival near;

clothes and caps are plain, old customs still alive.

From now on, if you allow me to come at leisure by moonlight,

I will tap at your gate with my staff at any hour of night.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

Line by line

莫笑农家腊酒浑 · mò xiào nóng jiā là jiǔ hún — Do not laugh at the farmers' cloudy year-end wine;

丰年留客足鸡豚 · fēng nián liú kè zú jī tún — in a good harvest year they keep guests with plenty of chicken and pork.

山重水复疑无路 · shān chóng shuǐ fù yí wú lù — Mountain upon mountain, stream upon stream — the path seems gone;

柳暗花明又一村 · liǔ àn huā míng yòu yī cūn — then dark willows, bright flowers — another village.

箫鼓追随春社近 · xiāo gǔ zhuī suí chūn shè jìn — Flutes and drums follow one another, the spring festival near;

衣冠简朴古风存 · yī guān jiǎn pǔ gǔ fēng cún — clothes and caps are plain, old customs still alive.

从今若许闲乘月 · cóng jīn ruò xǔ xián chéng yuè — From now on, if you allow me to come at leisure by moonlight,

拄杖无时夜叩门 · zhǔ zhàng wú shí yè kòu mén — I will tap at your gate with my staff at any hour of night.

Meaning and imagery

The second couplet has become a proverb: after mountains and rivers seem to close every path, willows and blossoms open onto a new village, meaning hope appears when you least expect it. Around it, Lu You paints a warm portrait of rural hospitality and simple customs. The ending, imagining knocking on doors by moonlight with his staff, is affectionate and relaxed.

Background

Written in 1167 when Lu You had been dismissed from office and was living at home near Shaoxing.

Key words

腊酒 là jiǔ: wine brewed in the twelfth month
山重水复 shān chóng shuǐ fù: mountains upon mountains, waters upon waters
柳暗花明 liǔ àn huā míng: dark willows and bright flowers
春社 chūn shè: the spring sacrifice to the earth god

About the poet: Lu You

Lu You is the most prolific poet in Chinese history, with nearly ten thousand poems. Throughout his life he urged the Southern Song to recover the north from the Jurchen Jin; patriotism and rural life are his two great themes.

Lifetime: 1125–1210. Other famous works: Visiting a Village West of the Mountains (游山西村); To My Son (示儿); Phoenix Hairpin (钗头凤).