鹿柴 Lu Chai Classical Chinese Poem | Learn Chinese Now

Hi everyone today we are going to look at another classic Chinese Tang Dynasty poem, this time by poet 王維 Wáng Wéi (701 - 761 AD). Wang Wei was a Chinese government official during the Tang Dynasty, he was also a devout Buddhist, so he was sometimes referred to as 詩佛 Shī fó the Poetry Buddha.
This poem is entitled
鹿 柴 Lù chái which was an ancient name for a Deer enclosure which would have been close to Wang Wei's house in the countryside.
Now let us look at the first line:
空 山 不 見 人 Kōng shān bú jiàn rén
Kong means empty and shan means mountain, you can see the shape of the character is something like a triangular mountain.(use picture to depict)
Then the next three characters bu means not, jian means see, and ren means person or people. So the whole line can be translated as "In the empty mountains one cannot see anyone."
Now to the next line:
但 聞 人 語 響 Dàn wén rén yǔ xiǎng
Dan means but and it is still used in modern Chinese, then the character wen means to hear in ancient Chinese however it should be noted that the character 聽 tīng is used in modern Chinese to mean listen or hear, wen has now come to mean smell or taste.
Then the next three characters ren yu xiang, ren yu means human language and xiang means a sound. So this is the "sound of human language." We can translate the whole line as "but one can hear the sound of people talking."
These two lines describe the atmosphere near Wang Wei's countryside home, he was not completely in the mountain wilderness like a hermit, instead he lived in the peace of the countryside but still near human civilization, thus although he could not see anyone in the mountains, he could still hear the sound of people from nearby village or farm.
The next line reads:
返 景 入 深 林 Fǎn jǐng rù shēn lín
Fan means to return and jing means shadow but in this context means evening light or twilight. Then ru means to enter, shen means deep and lin means forest.
So this line can be translated as: "The returning twilight enters the deep forest."
The last line reads:
復 照 青 苔 上 Fù zhào qīng tái shàng
Fu means to repeat, zhao means to illuminate, qing tai means green moss and shang means on. Remember from last time we said that Chinese put location words after the thing they are describing location in relation to, so qing tai shang, literally green moss on, means on the green moss and the whole line means: "Returning to shine upon the green moss."
These two lines talk about how as the sun becomes lower in the sky at sunset the light is able to enter the deep forest again since it is shining horizontally entering through the side of the forest, whereas before when the light was coming from above it was blocked by the forest canopy. This happens twice per day, once at sunrise and once at sunset, so thus the light can again shine on the green moss.
Thank you for watching guys and if you want to hear any more classical Chinese poetry, please leave your requests in the comments section below. We will see you next week.
Zai jian
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[@longlearning1496]

You are the best teacher.Thanks a bunch.

[@KeVtArO]

this poems has a great feeling to it, makes you feel as if you were there with Wang Wei in the mountains

[@zyliu4926]

A couple of corrections: 柴 is a 假借字 for 寨, pronounced zhai4, not chai2 景 is a 假借字 for 影, and should be pronounced as ying3 not jing3。 == and 但 means "only" instead of "but".

[@melopc]

Agreed. 柴 =ZHAI4，景 = 影 YING3

[@oliviasun4300]

这个频道不仅夹带私货，搞政治言论，很多知识都犯了错误，服了服了。

[@utna90]

Love this series of classical poems. Please keep it coming! It would be awesome too, if besides Mandarin, there was a second reading in cantonese opera language pronunciation. I thinks it would be much closer to the actual reading.

[@ZONKAMANIA]

Yessss! Finally found a guy reading this poem!!!! Excellent work my friend, thank you for sharing! I plan to memorize this and well, it's harder to do when hearing it recited by a woman...just harder for me to grab onto the pronunciation...

[@TheMaturestudent]

Thank you for this and I would love to hear more of the Tang poems. All 300 of them would be lovely (just kidding) but I wouldn't complain if you did upload all 300 of them. You've done a tremendous job explaining and makes it so much easier or us students to remember.

[@FreedomEscapismASMR]

I love the video. It's well presented and I can follow the poem. Thank you for this channel. It's great ❤️ I would like to hear poems by obscure poets. The less famous classical poets. Thanks again

[@coldheart520]

Ben, you are a great teacher! A very fun and easy way to learn!

[@sapphirearisa]

im studying chinese classics at school now! i really enjoyed this video

[@Daoshengstar]

Guys, you should do a video on how to say "Bless you" when someone sneezes and other courtesies in Mandarin.

[@HayashiManabu]

These poetry videos are great, you should do videos on 古散文 also! Perhaps 論語，或韓非子的五蠹，或史記中的刺客列傳，那些史事挺有趣味。諸葛亮的出師表也是一片極佳的名作！

[@virgingorda3]

Awesome!! Please do more poems, as I'm trying to learn them. Of Wang Wei is great. Do you have any by Tao YuanMing? I love your explanations and I appreciate you use traditional Chinese. Thank you and keep it up!

[@sengloo17]

Loved it. More poems please.

[@h.h.stroosma1582]

PLEASE more poems !!!☆★☆★♡♥♡♥ I use Matthews Doc. , very good for Classical Chinese.

[@melaniezenny9158]

Great video :) Keep them coming! Could you also do a video on how to use the different particles in Chinese, such as 的,了,呢, etc?

[@dannytibi]

I'm not sure if you can count this as classical poetry, maybe not. But it would be awesome to see a video about the 三字經. Actually since it's kind long compared to the poems you usually do, maybe you could do a separate series on it? Just a thought.

[@julioc918]

love chinese poem sounds

[@孫以琳]

💐這個外國朋友很棒👍👍👍👍

[@rebeccao9712]

I love this channel! Glad to have come across it via OffTheGreatWall!

[@shadowphoenix8962]

Great poetry,more please.

[@赵小明-v9t]

the title of this poem is 鹿柴 . We pronounce 柴 as zhai instead of chai

[@cete1905]

What's the difference between zh, ch and q? I've never understood it quitely.

[@LeeHongYee99]

When reading as zhai, it means village, chai means wood.

[@dongryeongkim9828]

These are really amazing !! I'm speechless. :)

[@cantaelaedo]

Please, do this poem of Tu Fu. Thanks :) 春 望 國破山河在 城春草木深 感時花濺淚 恨別鳥驚心 烽火連三月 家書抵萬金 白頭搔更短 渾欲不勝簪

[@謝禎和]

Ivan Arenal ㄠ

[@enjuichang]

Bless you = 不要緊 Bùyàojǐn bu2 yao4 jin3

[@AnadyLi]

Love this type of vid (b/c I need this kind of vid). Unfortunately I can't read traditional, so I guess I'll just have to look up another version in Simplified or learn Traditional along with Simplified, huh?

[@apm77]

You translate "fan jing" as "returning twilight", leaving "fan" in its literal sense of "return" and claiming that "jing" literally means "shadow" but means "evening light" in this context. However, other sources say that "jing" (while it has a variety of meanings) does not in itself mean "evening light" in this context or any other, but rather the whole phrase, "fan jing" (literally "returning light"), means "evening light" idiomatically. I'm curious to understand the discrepency.

[@tooskyhierot1395]

Adrian Morgan It has actually. The original meaning of jing(景) is "sunlight". Jing In this meaning only appears in very literary texts and idioms originating from classical Chinese. For instance, 春和景明 spring warm sunlight bright (literally translated) and 景翳翳以将入 sunlight dims as the sun is going down. "Shadow" is another meaning of Jing, of course, but not In this case. Thank you )

[@sarpedon2002]

make more videos! these are awesome!

[@delongtsway953]

i am impressed thank you.

[@lucaschan9570]

We seldom say "bless you". Instead, people usually say "sorry" or "excuse me" after they sneeze.

[@Saphira4Q]

Yes, please do more poetry.

[@TheIcyLotus]

Thanks a bunch!

[@TheIcyLotus]

Could you please make a video on the poem 日照香爐生紫煙，遙看瀑布掛前川，飛流直下三千尺，疑是銀河落九天? It's by Li Bai and I don't know the title... Thanks!

[@名姓-b1k]

actually it's 鹿柴（lù zhài）but not lù chái but still nice video and thanks for making it

[@taurantnguyen1664]

鹿柴 / Lộc Trại 空山不見人， 但聞人語響。 返景入深林， 復照青苔上。 Không sơn bất kiến nhân, Ðãn văn nhân ngữ *hưởng* . Phản cảnh nhập thâm lâm, Phục chiếu thanh đài *thượng* . Required to be rhymed : *響* , *上* . Middle Chinese : /hɨɐŋX/ , /d͡ʑɨɐŋH/

[@awrebyawe]

Love these

[@reghin79]

I'm confused. Did you mean 影 instead of 景 ? Because the first character actually means shadow in standard chinese, while the second is more ambiguous, usually found in arrangements like "scenery". The version of this poem that I've found contains the first character 影 ying, but maybe yours is the original and 景 jing is the original word for shadow which later became ying through the addition of the shadow semantic radical to the right. Is this the case, or is it just an error on your part ?

[@andrewtenorio]

i love these!

[@ojhprime]

Korean Translation of Chinese poem, 한시 감상입니다. 즐감하세요. 徐俯(서부, 북송의 관료 문인), 春游湖(춘유호, 봄날 중국 항주 서호에서 노닐며) kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqfVmZesr7KAa7M

[@g00glian0]

You have the best mandarin videos on the net. No shit.

[@sagme3887]

Hey Ben and Karen :) I was hoping you guys could make a video on grammar and sentence structure! I'm struggling to do it by myself. Please help. Thanks :)

[@melopc]

A couple of corrections: 柴 is a 假借字 for 寨, pronounced zhai4, not chai2 景 is a 假借字 for 影, and should be pronounced as ying3 not jing3。

[@Triok1000]

can you do one of my favourit？。将进酒。

[@Mecklybver]

more classical chinese please. a grammar in the language would be nice.

[@tmynck]

Please do 月下獨酌. Thanks!

[@themisor.758]

Hello, could you suggest a good modern chinese-english dictionary? From Taiwan if possible.

[@YoutubeFrogOfHell]

more videos like this!^^

[@7summerbeauty]

BEAUTIFUL~!!!.

[@g00glian0]

I second that!

[@theobuniel9643]

Can you do poems from other dynasties?

[@apurva_50]

Pls do poem tao ye ge

[@serenemidearth2375]

How about do some Ming dynasty poem

[@otabwill709]

maybe in a different dialect, but i'm pretty sure it's chai in mandarin, isn't it?

[@gregory_the_griffon]

choose 憫農 by 李紳

[@grandexandi]

Meryl Streep's reading favors a different interpretation.

[@LeeHongYee99]

The title should be read as "lu zhai"

[@TheSuperlouloulou]

1:36 peple haha

[@陈鑫-s9x]

望廬山瀑布

[@9726eric]

Mistakes. Mistakes everywhere.

[@vatnidd]

Daai6 gat7 lai6 si6, with tones.

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

但问 返京

[@ascendtms88]

李白，梦游天姥吟留别

[@Thejeweler101]

in mandarin its 祝福你 Zhùfú nǐ

[@hybehybe6034]

Kkkkkkkkk yeeeeew

[@tiiiimmmmmm]

doesnt exist. well, not anything directly corresponding to "bless you." at least, not in my knowledge of cantonese

[@terrycormier5221]

Xie xie

[@殷殷不慕]

柴，应该读zhai,寨的意思。景，应该读ying，是夕阳返照的阳光的意思。解释对，但读错了。