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Tang Dynasty Jueju Wang Wei

A Question about the Plum Tree

雜詩三首·其二

Zá shī sān shǒu · qí èr

All the news of home narrows to one question about blossoms beside a window. Read the Chinese, pinyin, word meanings, and original English translation.

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Read the original and its translation together. Open a line’s word meanings for a closer look.

About the text and pronunciation

The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.

01

君自故鄉來，

jūn zì gù xiāng lái

You have come from my old home;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 君 jūn you
  2. 自 zì from
  3. 故鄉 gù xiāng old home
  4. 來 lái come
02

應知故鄉事。

yīng zhī gù xiāng shì

you must know what is happening there.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 應 yīng must or should
  2. 知 zhī know
  3. 故鄉 gù xiāng old home
  4. 事 shì affairs
03

來日綺窗前，

lái rì qǐ chuāng qián

On the day you left, before the patterned window,

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 來日 lái rì day of coming here
  2. 綺窗 qǐ chuāng patterned window
  3. 前 qián in front of
04

寒梅著花未。

hán méi zhuó huā wèi

had the winter plum put out its flowers yet?

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 寒梅 hán méi winter plum
  2. 著花 zhuó huā produce blossoms
  3. 未 wèi yet or not

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

君自故鄉來，

應知故鄉事。

來日綺窗前，

寒梅著花未。

Translation

You have come from my old home;

you must know what is happening there.

On the day you left, before the patterned window,

had the winter plum put out its flowers yet?

Try it from memory

After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    君自故鄉來，

    Pronunciation hint

    gù xiāng

    Reveal meaning and translation

    故鄉 — old home

    You have come from my old home;

  2. Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?

    來日綺窗前，

    Pronunciation hint

    lái rì

    Reveal meaning and translation

    來日 — day of coming here

    On the day you left, before the patterned window,

  3. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    寒梅著花未。

    Pronunciation hint

    hán méi

    Reveal meaning and translation

    寒梅 — winter plum

    had the winter plum put out its flowers yet?

One more question: what changes?

Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 · A visitor from home

自 locates the visitor's point of departure. The repeated 故鄉 gives both the journey and the news it could bring the same center. 應知 expresses an expectation, “you must know,” opening the possibility of many questions about affairs at home. The speaker then uses that opportunity to ask about one thing.

Lines 3–4 · A flowering seen by proxy

來日 means the day the visitor set out, viewed from the destination, so the English reads “on the day you left.” 綺窗 suggests a patterned or decorated window. 前 fixes the location in front of it. With that familiar spot established, 寒梅著花未 asks whether the winter plum had flowered yet. The phrase 著花 is read zhuó huā, “put forth blossoms.” We use traditional 著 for the transcription’s 着 in this expression.

English places the question word “had” early. Chinese waits until 未 at the end to make the question explicit. The delayed uncertainty matters. The speaker can name the exact spot, but only the visitor could have seen its recent change.

Form and tone

This is the complete second poem of a three-poem set. Four five-character lines narrow from home to a window to a single tree. The interrogative close matters more than supplying a neat English conclusion.

See the quatrain guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

The poem offers no explanation of why this particular plum is remembered. That omission lets an ordinary detail carry the weight of home. A translation should not replace it with an abstract statement that the speaker misses everything.

Continue with Wang Wei or the homesickness shelf.

Sources

Chinese text compared with 雜詩三首·其二, public transcription on Wikisource. Punctuation is editorial; the English translation and reading notes are original to PoemWell.

English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Updated .

Cite this reading

Wang Wei. “A Question about the Plum Tree” (雜詩三首·其二). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/a-question-about-the-plum

Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.