Birthday poem · December 4Minor Snow, the 20th solar term: the first snow.

Birthday poem card for December 4: “Climbing Stork Tower” by Wang Zhihuan. Birth character 白, white.

Birth character

白 bái · white

白 means white, and also clear or plain.

白雲生處有人家
“Where rise white clouds, there appear cottages and bowers.” — Du Mu, ‘Mountain Walk’

Other dates with this poem: October 5

The poem

“Climbing Stork Tower” 登鸛鵲樓

  1. 白日依山盡bái rì yī shān jìnThe sun beyond the mountains glows;
  2. 黃河入海流huáng hé rù hǎi liúThe Yellow River seawards flows.
  3. 欲窮千里目yù qióng qiān lǐ mùYou can enjoy a grander sight
  4. 更上一層樓gèng shàng yī céng lóuBy climbing to a greater height.

Wang Zhihuan 王之渙 · Tang dynasty · 688–742 · five-character verse

English translation by Poetune.

Read “Climbing Stork Tower” in full, with notes →

Why this poem

Wang Zhihuan: to see a thousand miles, climb one more storey.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Minor Snow.

Make a card for someone

Add a name and a short message to this card

Your text is turned into an image on this screen only. Nothing is sent anywhere.