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汉Hanzi Explorer
中文

POEM

将进酒Qiāng Jìn JiǔBring in the Wine

Dynasty
Tang
Author
李白 Lǐ Bái (Li Bai)
Genre
乐府
Lines
25
Era
c. 8th century

THE POEM — LINE BY LINE

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SHARED CHARACTERS

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More lines with 酒

This is the only poem with 酒 in the collection so far.

POEM IN PLAIN ENGLISH

A plain-English guide, not a literary translation

Do you not see the Yellow River's waters come down from heaven, racing to the sea and never turning back? Do you not see the bright mirror in the great hall grieving over white hair — black silk in the morning, snow by nightfall? When life goes well, make the most of your joy: never let the golden goblet face the moon empty. Heaven gave me my talents for a purpose — spend a thousand pieces of gold, and they will come back again. Boil the mutton, slaughter the ox, let us make merry now, for surely we must drink three hundred cups at one sitting. Master Cen! Danqiu, old friend! Bring in the wine — and let no cup ever stop! Let me sing you a song, and please, lend me your ears and listen: bells, drums, dainties of jade — none of it is worth prizing; all I wish is to stay drunk forever and never sober up. The sages and worthies of old are all forgotten now; only the drinkers have left their names behind. The Prince of Chen once held his feast at Pingle — wine at ten thousand a dou, laughing and jesting without restraint. Why should our host talk of having little money? Just go and buy more wine — I will drink it with you! My dappled horse, my thousand-gold fur coat — call the boy to take them out and trade them for fine wine, and together we will drown the sorrow of all the ages! The poem swings between rage and laughter — at time flying, at fame, at death — and lands on the same answer every time: drink. This is a plain-English guide, not a literary translation.

BACKGROUND & IMAGERY

Li Bai wrote 将进酒 — a drinking-song title borrowed from old Yuefu music — while drinking with the poet Cen Xun and the Daoist Yuan Danqiu. It is his most famous 'wild' poem, and its roaring, boastful, despairing voice is the Li Bai of legend. The poem does not argue: it gestures — at the river running out like a life, at the mirror turning black hair white — and answers with the one thing it believes in, wine shared with friends. The opening 君不见 and the closing 万古愁 have both entered everyday Chinese speech.

HISTORIC TRANSLATION

Do you not see the waters of the Yellow River coming down from Heaven? They rush with incredible speed to the sea, and they never turn and come back again. Do you not see, in the clear mirror of the Guest Hall, the miserable white hair on my head? At dawn it is like shining thread, but at sunset it is snow. In this life, to be perfectly happy, one must drain one's pleasures; The golden wine-cup must not stand empty opposite the moon. Heaven put us here, we must use what we have. Scatter a thousand ounces of silver and you are but where you were. Boil the sheep, Kill the ox, Be merry. We should drink three hundred cups at once. Mr. Wise Gentleman Ts'en, And you, Mr. Scholar Tan Ch'iu, Drink, you must not stop. I will sing one of my poems for you, Please lean over and listen: "Bells! Drums! Delicacies Worth their weight in jade — These things Are of the slightest value. I only want to be drunk For ages and never wake. The sages and worthies of old times Have left not a sound, Only those who drank Have achieved lasting fame. The King of Ch'en, long ago, caroused In the Hall of Peaceful Content. They drank wine paid At a full ten thousand a gallon; They surpassed themselves in mirth, And the telling of obscene stories. How can a host say He has very little money. It is absolutely imperative That he buy wine for his friends. Horses of five colours, dappled flower horses, Fur coats costing A thousand ounces of silver — He sends his son to exchange All these for delectable wine, So that you and I together May drown our ancient grief."

Amy Lowell, Fir-Flower Tablets (1921)

Public domain (translator Amy Lowell died 1925; first published 1921, before the 1929 US safety line).

TRUST & SOURCES

Reviewed by
AI-assisted editorial review
Last reviewed
2026-08-15

Sources

  • 《唐诗三百首》通行本（中华书局点校本）
  • 本站飞花令语料 feihualing.db（poem 331711） — 文本以通行本为准，库本仅行级参考；库本行划分与通行本略有出入（库本 28 行），'将进酒'读 qiāng（请），依通行注音
  • Amy Lowell & Florence Ayscough, Fir-Flower Tablets (1921) — 公版译本，逐条登记于 license-ledger-poetry.json；书中题为 'Drinking Song'（pp. 58-59），逐字对照 1921 初版影印（archive.org item cu31924023366630）
  • Original English paraphrase & gloss — 本站原创学习释义，非文学译本（plain-English guide, not a literary translation）

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