Crossing Jingmen: A Farewell
渡荊門送別
Dù Jīngmén sòng bié
The mountains give way to plains, yet the river seems to accompany the traveler from home. 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.
Word meanings — Line 1
- 渡 dù travel by water
- 遠 yuǎn far
- 荊門 jīng mén Jingmen
- 外 wài beyond
Word meanings — Line 2
- 來 lái come
- 從 cóng through
- 楚國 chǔ guó country of Chu
- 遊 yóu roam
Word meanings — Line 3
- 山 shān mountains
- 隨 suí along with
- 平野 píng yě level country
- 盡 jìn end
Word meanings — Line 4
- 江 jiāng river
- 入 rù enter
- 大荒 dà huāng vast open country
- 流 liú flow
Word meanings — Line 5
- 月 yuè moon
- 下 xià descend
- 飛 fēi fly
- 天鏡 tiān jìng heavenly mirror
Word meanings — Line 6
- 雲生 yún shēng clouds arise
- 結 jié form
- 海樓 hǎi lóu mirage tower
Word meanings — Line 7
- 仍 réng still
- 憐 lián cherish
- 故鄉水 gù xiāng shuǐ waters of home
Word meanings — Line 8
- 萬里 wàn lǐ ten thousand li
- 送 sòng see off
- 行舟 xíng zhōu traveling boat
English translation by PoemWell.
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Original
渡遠荊門外，
來從楚國遊。
山隨平野盡，
江入大荒流。
月下飛天鏡，
雲生結海樓。
仍憐故鄉水，
萬里送行舟。
Translation
I travel far by water beyond Jingmen,
coming to roam through the country of Chu.
The mountains end as the level country opens;
the river flows into the great expanse.
The moon comes down, a mirror flown from the sky;
clouds arise and build a tower like a sea mirage.
Still I cherish the waters of my home,
seeing my traveling boat off for ten thousand li.
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?
渡遠荊門外，
Pronunciation hint
jīng mén
Reveal meaning and translation
荊門 — Jingmen
I travel far by water beyond Jingmen,
-
Line 5 · What does the marked word mean?
月下飛天鏡，
Pronunciation hint
tiān jìng
Reveal meaning and translation
天鏡 — heavenly mirror
The moon comes down, a mirror flown from the sky;
-
Line 8 · What does the marked word mean?
萬里送行舟。
Pronunciation hint
wàn lǐ
Reveal meaning and translation
萬里 — ten thousand li
seeing my traveling boat off for ten thousand li.
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 — Crossing into Chu
外 and 來 establish a direction of travel. The boat goes beyond Jingmen into the region named Chu. 楚國 is the old regional name in this Tang poem. The English preserves the sense of entering a place where the speaker intends to roam.
Lines 3–4 — A landscape from a moving boat
隨 connects the end of the mountains with the opening of the level country. The scene is what it feels like to come out of enclosed terrain. 入 keeps the river moving into the great expanse after the mountains have reached their apparent end.
Lines 5–6 — A mirror and a tower
天鏡 makes the moon in the water look like a mirror that has come down from the sky. 海樓 gives the gathering clouds the form of a mirage-like tower. 飛 and 結 make the two likenesses events, a descent and a formation.
Lines 7–8 — The water sees him off
仍 keeps affection for the 故鄉水 present amid the new sights. 憐 is that affection. The final line lets the same water take over as the agent of 送, seeing the traveling boat off for an extravagant distance. Read back from that gesture to the title. The traveler can leave the old country and still be accompanied by what flows out of it.
Form and tone
The eight five-character lines build two central pairs: mountain and river, moon and cloud. 遊, 流, 樓, and 舟 close the even lines. The final pair makes an emotional relation out of the same water that has structured the journey.
See the regulated verse guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
Jingmen marks the passage named in the title. The poem does not need a human friend on the bank to fulfill 送別: its last agent of farewell is the river itself. We use standard traditional graph forms 荊 and 憐 where the linked transcription displays 荆 and 怜.
Continue with Li Bai or the farewell shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 渡荊門送別, 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
Li Bai. “Crossing Jingmen: A Farewell” (渡荊門送別). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/crossing-jingmen
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.