Autumn Evening in the Mountains
山居秋暝
Shān jū qiū míng
Wang Wei’s Autumn Evening in the Mountains, with pinyin and English notes on moonlight, washing women, a fishing boat, and reasons to remain after spring.
Read the poem
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.
Word meanings — Line 1
- 空山 kōng shān empty quiet mountain
- 新雨 xīn yǔ fresh rain
- 後 hòu after
Word meanings — Line 2
- 天氣 tiān qì weather or air
- 晚來 wǎn lái as evening comes
- 秋 qiū autumn
Word meanings — Line 3
- 明月 míng yuè bright moon
- 松間 sōng jiān among pines
- 照 zhào shine
Word meanings — Line 4
- 清泉 qīng quán clear spring
- 石上 shí shàng over stones
- 流 liú flow
Word meanings — Line 5
- 竹 zhú bamboo
- 喧 xuān be noisy
- 歸 guī return
- 浣女 huàn nǚ women washing clothes
Word meanings — Line 6
- 蓮 lián lotus
- 動 dòng move
- 下 xià go downstream
- 漁舟 yú zhōu fishing boat
Word meanings — Line 7
- 隨意 suí yì as it will
- 春芳 chūn fāng spring fragrance
- 歇 xiē cease
Word meanings — Line 8
- 王孫 wáng sūn noble wanderer
- 自 zì still or naturally
- 可 kě can
- 留 liú remain
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
空山新雨後，
天氣晚來秋。
明月松間照，
清泉石上流。
竹喧歸浣女，
蓮動下漁舟。
隨意春芳歇，
王孫自可留。
Translation
In the quiet mountain after fresh rain,
evening brings the feel of autumn.
The bright moon shines among the pines;
clear spring water flows across the stones.
Bamboo stirs with voices: the washing women return.
Lotuses move: a fishing boat goes downstream.
Let spring's fragrance end as it will;
the noble wanderer can stay here all the same.
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.
-
Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?
空山新雨後，
Pronunciation hint
kōng shān
Reveal meaning and translation
空山 — empty quiet mountain
In the quiet mountain after fresh rain,
-
Line 5 · What does the marked word mean?
竹喧歸浣女，
Pronunciation hint
huàn nǚ
Reveal meaning and translation
浣女 — women washing clothes
Bamboo stirs with voices: the washing women return.
-
Line 8 · What does the marked word mean?
王孫自可留。
Pronunciation hint
wáng sūn
Reveal meaning and translation
王孫 — noble wanderer
the noble wanderer can stay here all the same.
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.
Line-by-line notes →Self-check at your own pace. No score or progress is saved. Open only the answers you want included when printing.
Line-by-line notes
An empty mountain with people in it
空山 introduces the quiet character of the scene, not a claim that the area has no inhabitants. 新雨後 places us after fresh rain, and 晚來 lets the evening disclose autumn in the air. The poem’s later workers and boat are therefore part of the landscape rather than exceptions to it.
The next pair balances locations and movements: moonlight shines among pines; spring water flows over stones. “Spring” here translates 泉, a water source, not the season 春 that appears near the end.
Effects come before their causes
竹喧 gives noise in the bamboo before identifying the returning washing women. 蓮動 gives moving lotus plants before naming the fishing boat going downstream. This order lets the reader recognize human activity through signs within the scene. The lotus plants themselves are not rowing away, and the women are not an imagined crowd added to an otherwise deserted mountain.
Why the speaker can remain
隨意 lets spring’s fragrance cease as it will. 秋 has already named the present season; the final pair does not suddenly transport us back to spring. 王孫 is an inherited address for a noble or wandering person, not necessarily a literal royal grandson standing in view.
The literary summons in Summons to a Recluse urges the wanderer home because the mountains are no place to remain. Here 自可留 answers with the possibility of staying. The preceding light, water, and ordinary work have given that choice something concrete to rest on.
Read the middle four lines in order
The moonlight and water in lines 3–4 come with their sources already named. In lines 5–6 the bamboo noise and lotus movement arrive first, and the people and boat become apparent afterward. Try switching each of those lines around so it begins with the women or the boat. The scene would contain the same events, but the reader would lose the moment of recognizing what caused a sound or movement.
Form and tone
Eight five-character lines place two carefully balanced pairs at the center. 松間 corresponds to 石上, and the bamboo’s noise corresponds to the lotus’s movement. 秋, 流, 舟, and 留 carry the even-line rhyme.
See the regulated verse guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
The scene combines a place of withdrawal with ordinary work. Reading it as absolute escape from every human presence would miss its washing and fishing. The final choice to stay grows from this inhabited landscape.
Continue with Wang Wei or the nature shelf.
Read this poem alongside the contrasting selections in our mountain poetry guide.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 山居秋暝, public transcription on Wikisource. Punctuation is editorial; the English translation and reading notes are original to PoemWell. The closing allusion is compared with 招隱士, whose summons urges 王孫 to return.
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. “Autumn Evening in the Mountains” (山居秋暝). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/autumn-evening-in-the-mountains
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.