Ru Meng Ling: The Streamside Pavilion
如夢令·常記溪亭日暮
Rú mèng lìng · Cháng jì xī tíng rì mù
A remembered evening outing ends with a wrong turn into lotus flowers and a burst of startled wings. Read the Chinese, pinyin, word meanings, and original English translation.
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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.
Word meanings — Line 1
- 常記 cháng jì often remember
- 溪亭 xī tíng streamside pavilion
- 日暮 rì mù dusk
Word meanings — Line 2
- 沉醉 chén zuì deeply drunk
- 不知 bù zhī do not know
- 歸路 guī lù way home
Word meanings — Line 3
- 興盡 xìng jìn pleasure comes to an end
- 晚 wǎn late
- 回舟 huí zhōu turn the boat back
Word meanings — Line 4
- 誤入 wù rù enter by mistake
- 藕花 ǒu huā lotus flowers
- 深處 shēn chù deep place
Word meanings — Line 5
- 爭 zhēng hasten or strive
- 渡 dù cross
Word meanings — Line 6
- 爭 zhēng hasten or strive
- 渡 dù cross
Word meanings — Line 7
- 驚起 jīng qǐ startle into rising
- 一行 yì háng one line
- 鷗鷺 ōu lù gulls and herons
English translation by PoemWell.
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Original
常記溪亭日暮，
沉醉不知歸路。
興盡晚回舟，
誤入藕花深處。
爭渡，
爭渡，
驚起一行鷗鷺。
Translation
I often remember dusk at the streamside pavilion,
so deep in wine I did not know the way home.
When the pleasure was spent, I turned the boat back late,
and strayed into the depths of the lotus flowers.
Hurry across,
hurry across—
startling up a whole line of gulls and herons.
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?
常記溪亭日暮，
Pronunciation hint
cháng jì
Reveal meaning and translation
常記 — often remember
I often remember dusk at the streamside pavilion,
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Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
誤入藕花深處。
Pronunciation hint
wù rù
Reveal meaning and translation
誤入 — enter by mistake
and strayed into the depths of the lotus flowers.
-
Line 7 · What does the marked word mean?
驚起一行鷗鷺。
Pronunciation hint
jīng qǐ
Reveal meaning and translation
驚起 — startle into rising
startling up a whole line of gulls and herons.
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 — The remembered evening
常記 puts us at a later point from which the outing keeps returning to mind. 沉醉 describes being deeply drunk. The thing the speaker cannot place is 歸路, the way back. Memory can hold the evening vividly even though the person in it has lost the route.
Lines 3–4 — Turning back and going deeper
興 is xìng, the pleasure or impulse of the outing. 興盡 brings that pleasure to its end, and 晚回舟 starts a late return. 誤 changes the direction again. Instead of finding the way, the boat strays into 藕花深處, deep among the lotus flowers.
Lines 5–7 — A cry and a flight
爭渡 can be heard as urgent rowing or as a question about how to get across. “Hurry across” takes the energetic reading and leaves the speaker of the repeated cry unspecified. 驚起 gives the motion a result, the birds rising in alarm. 行 in 一行 is háng, a line or group. The ending supplies a suddenly clear line of birds to a scene in which the way home is still unclear.
Form and tone
The Ru Meng Ling tune gives this lyric seven phrases of 6, 6, 5, 6, 2, 2, and 6 characters. The doubled short phrase speeds up the action just before the longer final line releases the birds. A tune name can be shared by quite different poems.
See the ci lyric guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
The Shuyu ci transcription labels this lyric 酒興, pleasure in wine, and uses 沈醉; we print the modern traditional graph 沉 for that sense. The recalled outing need not be pinned to a specific year or an invented group of named companions. Its mistake is part of the lively memory.
Continue with Li Qingzhao or the nature shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 如夢令·常記溪亭日暮, 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 Qingzhao. “Ru Meng Ling: The Streamside Pavilion” (如夢令·常記溪亭日暮). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/ru-meng-ling-streamside-pavilion
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.