Viewing Heaven’s Gate Mountain
望天門山
Wàng Tiānmén shān
A river opens a mountain gateway, and a solitary sail approaches from the sun. 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
- 天門 tiān mén Heaven's Gate
- 中斷 zhōng duàn broken in the middle
- 楚江 chǔ jiāng river of Chu
- 開 kāi open
Word meanings — Line 2
- 碧水 bì shuǐ blue-green water
- 東流 dōng liú flow east
- 至此 zhì cǐ reach here
- 迴 huí turn
Word meanings — Line 3
- 兩岸 liǎng àn both banks
- 青山 qīng shān green mountains
- 相對 xiāng duì face each other
- 出 chū emerge
Word meanings — Line 4
- 孤帆 gū fān lone sail
- 一片 yí piàn one small shape
- 日邊 rì biān beside the sun
- 來 lái come
English translation by PoemWell.
Read the whole poem
Original
天門中斷楚江開，
碧水東流至此迴。
兩岸青山相對出，
孤帆一片日邊來。
Translation
Heaven's Gate breaks apart; the river of Chu opens through.
Blue-green water flowing east turns here.
On either bank green mountains emerge facing each other;
one lone sail comes from beside the sun.
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.
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Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?
天門中斷楚江開，
Pronunciation hint
tiān mén
Reveal meaning and translation
天門 — Heaven's Gate
Heaven's Gate breaks apart; the river of Chu opens through.
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Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?
兩岸青山相對出，
Pronunciation hint
liǎng àn
Reveal meaning and translation
兩岸 — both banks
On either bank green mountains emerge facing each other;
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Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?
孤帆一片日邊來。
Pronunciation hint
gū fān
Reveal meaning and translation
孤帆 — lone sail
one lone sail comes from beside the sun.
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
Lines 1–2 — A gate opened by water
天門 is the place-name and an image of a gate. 中斷 puts a break at its center, and 開 gives the Chu river a way through. 楚江 is the Yangtze named for the old region of Chu. The next line follows the eastward water to 此, the point where it turns. The opening and the bend are two movements in one view.
Lines 3–4 — What appears and what approaches
相對 holds the mountains on the two banks opposite one another, while 出 makes their appearance feel active. Fixed hills can seem to come forward as a point of view changes. The text does not specify an observer’s exact station. 來 gives the sail the approaching movement at the end, and 一片 makes it a single small patch after the great facing hills. 日邊 gives that patch a direction in the light. Read the two verbs 出 and 來 as distinct arrivals into the view.
Form and tone
Four seven-character lines set 開 and 迴 against 出 and 來: opening, turning, emerging, coming. The rhyme in 開, 迴, and 來 ties the wide landscape to the small sail at its close.
See the quatrain guide for the form. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; no unverified historical tone grid is supplied.
Historical context
This scene is organized around a river passage through facing heights. Reading the changing perspective is more useful than forcing the poem into a still landscape picture. The name Heaven’s Gate supplies grandeur before the final line reduces the visible boat to 一片.
Continue with Li Bai or the nature shelf.
Sources
Chinese text compared with 望天門山, 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. “Viewing Heaven’s Gate Mountain” (望天門山). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .
https://poemwell.org/poems/viewing-heavens-gate-mountain
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.