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Tang Dynasty Jueju Qian Qi

Returning to My Mountain Cottage in Late Spring

暮春歸故山草堂

Mù Chūn Guī Gù Shān Cǎo Táng

Returning after the spring flowers, Qian Qi finds the bamboo's steady shade waiting outside his mountain window.

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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

谷口春殘黃鳥稀，

gǔ kǒu chūn cán huáng niǎo xī

At the valley mouth spring is waning; yellow birds are few.

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 谷 gǔ valley
  2. 口 kǒu mouth
  3. 春 chūn spring
  4. 殘 cán waning
  5. 黃 huáng yellow
  6. 鳥 niǎo birds
  7. 稀 xī few
02

辛夷花盡杏花飛。

xīn yí huā jìn xìng huā fēi

The magnolia blossoms are finished, and apricot petals fly.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 辛 xīn xin
  2. 夷 yí yi magnolia
  3. 花 huā flowers
  4. 盡 jìn finished
  5. 杏 xìng apricot
  6. 花 huā blossoms
  7. 飛 fēi fly
03

始憐幽竹山窗下，

shǐ lián yōu zhú shān chuāng xià

Only now do I cherish the quiet bamboo below the mountain window:

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 始 shǐ only now
  2. 憐 lián cherish
  3. 幽 yōu quiet
  4. 竹 zhú bamboo
  5. 山 shān mountain
  6. 窗 chuāng window
  7. 下 xià below
04

不改清陰待我歸。

bù gǎi qīng yīn dài wǒ guī

its cool shade unchanged, it has waited for my return.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 不 bù not
  2. 改 gǎi change
  3. 清 qīng cool
  4. 陰 yīn shade
  5. 待 dài wait for
  6. 我 wǒ me
  7. 歸 guī return

English translation by PoemWell.

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Original

谷口春殘黃鳥稀，

辛夷花盡杏花飛。

始憐幽竹山窗下，

不改清陰待我歸。

Translation

At the valley mouth spring is waning; yellow birds are few.

The magnolia blossoms are finished, and apricot petals fly.

Only now do I cherish the quiet bamboo below the mountain window:

its cool shade unchanged, it has waited for my return.

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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?

    谷口春殘黃鳥稀，

    Pronunciation hint

    cán

    Reveal meaning and translation

    殘 — waning

    At the valley mouth spring is waning; yellow birds are few.

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

    始憐幽竹山窗下，

    Pronunciation hint

    zhú

    Reveal meaning and translation

    竹 — bamboo

    Only now do I cherish the quiet bamboo below the mountain window:

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

    不改清陰待我歸。

    Pronunciation hint

    yīn

    Reveal meaning and translation

    陰 — shade

    its cool shade unchanged, it has waited for my return.

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 · Different kinds of fading

We print 春殘, “spring is waning,” where the collection also records 殘春. 稀 says the yellow birds are scarce, and 盡 tells us that the magnolia flowers are already spent. 辛夷 is a single plant name despite the separate graphs. 杏花飛 leaves a little motion in the apricot petals. Together the two lines show several stages of the season’s passing.

Lines 3–4 · What the bamboo has done while he was away

始憐, “only now do I cherish,” dates a change in the observer. 不改 says that the cool shade itself has stayed the same. The English lets 待我歸 become a welcome, as though the bamboo had waited for the speaker. The change noticed at the valley mouth makes the unchanged shade by the window newly worth valuing. The cited collection places the poem under Qian Qi and records another attribution to Liu Changqing.

Form and tone

The seven-character quatrain groups change into its first pair and constancy into its second. The turn at 始 marks a discovery in the speaker as well as in the scenery. Modern pinyin is provided; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.

Historical context

The transmitted attribution is not unanimous; this page follows the placement under Qian Qi in the cited collection and makes the alternative visible above the text. The poem is complete as four lines. Its nature invites comparison through differences in duration, without requiring a fixed moral identity for every plant.

Sources

Chinese text follows Muchun gui gushan caotang, Quan Tang shi, juan 239, reading 春殘 rather than the recorded 殘春. The collection also records attribution to Liu Changqing under 晚春歸山居題窗前竹. Punctuation is editorial. 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

Qian Qi. “Returning to My Mountain Cottage in Late Spring” (暮春歸故山草堂). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/late-spring-return-to-my-cottage

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.