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Tang Dynasty Jueju Gao Shi

Hearing a Flute on the Frontier

塞上聽吹笛

Sài Shàng Tīng Chuī Dí

A frontier flute turns the tune Falling Plum Blossoms into imagined flowers carried through the passes in Gao Shi's night scene.

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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

雪淨胡天牧馬還，

xuě jìng hú tiān mù mǎ huán

Snow has cleared beneath the frontier sky; the grazing horses return.

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 雪 xuě snow
  2. 淨 jìng clear
  3. 胡 hú Hu
  4. 天 tiān sky
  5. 牧 mù pasture
  6. 馬 mǎ horses
  7. 還 huán return
02

月明羌笛戍樓間。

yuè míng qiāng dí shù lóu jiān

In moonlight, a Qiang flute sounds among the watchtowers.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 月 yuè moon
  2. 明 míng bright
  3. 羌笛 qiāng dí Qiang flute
  4. 戍 shù garrison
  5. 樓 lóu tower
  6. 間 jiān among
03

借問梅花何處落，

jiè wèn méi huā hé chù luò

Tell me—where are these plum blossoms falling?

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 借 jiè may
  2. 問 wèn ask
  3. 梅花 méi huā plum blossoms; a flute tune
  4. 何 hé what
  5. 處 chù place
  6. 落 luò fall
04

風吹一夜滿關山。

fēng chuī yí yè mǎn guān shān

Wind blows them all night, filling the mountain passes.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 風 fēng wind
  2. 吹 chuī blows
  3. 一 yí one
  4. 夜 yè night
  5. 滿 mǎn fill
  6. 關山 guān shān mountains and passes

English translation by PoemWell.

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Original

雪淨胡天牧馬還，

月明羌笛戍樓間。

借問梅花何處落，

風吹一夜滿關山。

Translation

Snow has cleared beneath the frontier sky; the grazing horses return.

In moonlight, a Qiang flute sounds among the watchtowers.

Tell me—where are these plum blossoms falling?

Wind blows them all night, filling the mountain passes.

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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?

    雪淨胡天牧馬還，

    Pronunciation hint

    tiān

    Reveal meaning and translation

    天 — sky

    Snow has cleared beneath the frontier sky; the grazing horses return.

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

    借問梅花何處落，

    Pronunciation hint

    méi huā

    Reveal meaning and translation

    梅花 — plum blossoms; a flute tune

    Tell me—where are these plum blossoms falling?

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

    風吹一夜滿關山。

    Pronunciation hint

    guān shān

    Reveal meaning and translation

    關山 — mountains and passes

    Wind blows them all night, filling the mountain passes.

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 frontier heard after dark

牧馬還 brings the grazing horses back into a snow-cleared setting. 胡天 is a historical frontier designation here. The moon gives the eye a way to pick out the watchtowers, and 羌笛 gives the ear an instrument to locate among them. The English supplies “sounds” in the second line to connect the flute with 戍樓間.

Lines 3–4: music takes on the movement of blossoms

梅花 evokes the flute tune usually called Falling Plum Blossoms. The question separates its images into actual grammar: plum blossoms as the thing that falls, and 何處 as where they might fall. The wind then fills 關山 with what the ear can imagine. Compare 戍樓間 to 滿關山. The music begins in a place the speaker can locate, then reaches beyond that place into the mountain passes.

Form and tone

The first two lines of this seven-character quatrain locate a sound; the last two give that sound imagined substance and movement. The repeated weather imagery connects snow, moonlight, and wind. Pinyin records modern reading, not Tang pronunciation; a historical tone grid is omitted.

Historical context

The title and wording here follow Gao Shi's collected poems, rather than combining this text with another transmitted flute poem. The frontier can be heard as well as seen: compare Wang Zhihuan's willow tune, where a named melody similarly brings an absent season into military life.

Sources

Chinese text follows the Sibu Congkan transcription of Gao Changshi ji, juan 8. Variant written forms are normalized to current traditional characters (including 巳 to 己 in 知己, 鴈 to 雁, 郷 to 鄉, 鬂 to 鬢, 羗 to 羌, and 猒 to 厭); wording is retained. Punctuation is editorial. The English translation and 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

Gao Shi. “Hearing a Flute on the Frontier” (塞上聽吹笛). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/hearing-a-flute-on-the-frontier

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.