Home › Poems › Waves Washing Sand
Làng Táo ShāWaves Washing Sand 浪淘沙
Liu Yuxi on panning for gold: only after the sand is washed away does gold appear.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
千淘万漉虽辛苦
qiān táo wàn lù suī xīn kǔ
吹尽狂沙始到金
chuī jǐn kuáng shā shǐ dào jīn
Simplified characters; traditional title: 浪淘沙. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.
Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.
English translation
Though sifted a thousand times and filtered ten thousand, it is hard work,
only when all the wild sand is blown away does the gold appear.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
Liu Yuxi on panning for gold: only after the sand is washed away does gold appear. The scene stays with you.
Background
Liu Yuxi on panning for gold: only after the sand is washed away does gold appear.
Key words
- 浪淘沙 làng táo shā
- Waves Washing Sand — a ci tune title
- 千淘万漉 qiān táo wàn lù
- a thousand washings and ten thousand filterings — long tempering
About the poet: Liu Yuxi
Liu Yuxi, a close friend of Liu Zongyuan and Bai Juyi, spent over twenty years in exile after the failed reform of 805. Bai Juyi called him the "hero of poetry" for his resilient, witty spirit.
Lifetime: 772–842. Other famous works: Black Robe Lane (乌衣巷); Autumn Song (秋词); The Autumn Wind (秋风引); An Inscription for My Humble Room (陋室铭); Gazing at Dongting (望洞庭); Bamboo Branch Song (竹枝词); Waves Washing Sand (浪淘沙); Admiring Peonies (赏牡丹); Autumn Song II (秋词).
More by Liu Yuxi
- Black Robe Lane乌衣巷
- Autumn Song秋词
- The Autumn Wind秋风引
- Gazing at Dongting望洞庭
- Bamboo Branch Song竹枝词
- Admiring Peonies赏牡丹
- Autumn Song II秋词