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梦里不知身是客

夢裡不知身是客
mèng lǐ bù zhī shēn shì kè
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 in my dream I forgot I was a stranger / prisoner
  2. 2 only in sleep can an exile forget his fallen fate; a brief, aching solace
  3. 3 in dream not know (my) self is a guest

Examples

HSK 7-9
他多年漂泊异乡，常常是梦里不知身是客。
Tā duō nián piāobó yìxiāng, chángcháng shì mènglǐbùzhīshēnshìkè.
Drifting in a foreign land for years, he often 'in dreams forgot he was a stranger there.'
HSK 7-9
看到从前的照片，一时梦里不知身是客，醒来更添惆怅。
Kàndào cóngqián de zhàopiàn, yìshí mènglǐbùzhīshēnshìkè, xǐnglái gèng tiān chóuchàng.
Seeing old photos, he briefly 'forgot in dream that he was an exile'; waking only deepened the melancholy.

Tips

history
From 李煜 (Li Yu, 'Lang Tao Sha: Beyond the Blind, the Rain Patters,' late Southern Tang, c. 978 CE): 帘外雨潺潺，春意阑珊... 梦里不知身是客，一晌贪欢 (Beyond the blind, rain patters; spring is waning... In dream I forgot I was a stranger - one brief stretch of stolen joy). Li Yu wrote it in captivity in the Song capital after his kingdom fell; he was poisoned shortly after. One of the most piercing lines of Chinese lyric poetry.
usage
Often paired with 一晌贪欢 ('one brief spell of stolen joy'). Modern usage: nostalgia, exile, displacement; any moment of sweet forgetting that reality snaps back on.

Stroke Order

梦 mèng
里 lǐ
不 bù
知 zhī
身 shēn
是 shì
客 kè