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红掌拨清波

紅掌撥清波
hóng zhǎng bō qīng bō
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 red webs paddle the clear ripples
  2. 2 the charming image of geese swimming, a beloved children's-poem line
  3. 3 red palm push clear-wave

Examples

HSK 7-9
白毛浮绿水，红掌拨清波，这首咏鹅诗小朋友都会背。
Bái máo fú lǜ shuǐ, hóngzhǎngbōqīngbō, zhè shǒu Yǒng É shī xiǎopéngyǒu dōuhuì bèi.
'White feathers float on green water, red webs paddle the clear ripples', every child can recite this Ode to the Goose.
HSK 7-9
池塘里的鹅游过，真如红掌拨清波的画面。
Chítáng lǐ de é yóu guò, zhēn rú hóngzhǎngbōqīngbō de huàmiàn.
Geese crossing the pond, truly the image of 'red webs paddling clear ripples.'

Tips

history
From 骆宾王's 咏鹅 (early Tang; legend says composed at age 7, around 632 CE): 鹅，鹅，鹅，曲项向天歌。 白毛浮绿水，红掌拨清波 (Goose, goose, goose, crooked neck singing to sky. White feathers float on green water; red webs paddle clear ripples). The most widely taught first-poem in modern mainland primary school; almost every Chinese child learns it before age six.
usage
Always quoted as the couplet with 白毛浮绿水: the color-contrast (white/green/red/clear) is the pedagogical point. 掌 here = 'web/palm' of the goose's foot, not 'palm of a hand' in the human sense.

Stroke Order

红 hóng
掌 zhǎng
拨 bō
清 qīng
波 bō