风吹草低见牛羊

風吹草低見牛羊

fēng chuī cǎo dī xiàn niú yáng

quotation

Meanings

1 when the wind bends the grass, cattle and sheep appear
2 evokes the vastness of the northern grasslands
3 famous closing line of the ancient 'Chile Song'

Characters

to appear (= 现)

Examples

HSK 4

他写的游记让我想起了风吹草低见牛羊的景色。

Tā xiě de yóujì ràng wǒ xiǎngqǐ le fēngchuīcǎodīxiànniúyáng de jǐngsè.

His travel essay brought to mind the scene of grass bending in the wind, cattle appearing.

HSK 7-9

到了内蒙古大草原，才真正体会到"风吹草低见牛羊"的意境。

Dào le Nèi Měnggǔ dà cǎoyuán, cái zhēnzhèng tǐhuì dào " fēngchuīcǎodīxiànniúyáng " de yìjìng.

Only on the Inner Mongolian grasslands do you truly feel the image of 'wind bending grass to reveal herds.'

Tips

history

The closing line of the Northern-Dynasties folk song 敕勒歌 (Song of Chile), which paints the vast steppe: a sky like a felt tent covering all directions, the heavens deep blue, the wilds boundless - and when the wind bends the grass low, the cattle and sheep appear. A classic herders' song of the 鲜卑 people.

usage

Here 见 is read xiàn (a loan for 现, to appear), not jiàn - a common classical phonetic-loan usage.

Stroke Order

风 fēng

吹 chuī

草 cǎo

低 dī

见 jiàn

牛 niú

羊 yáng