rose13
meaning of 柳暗花明 Hi! A few years ago I was very into Chinese (well, I still am, that’s why I am here ;) ). I attended a course and came across this chengyu:柳暗花明. I did some research and found out that it comes from a poem by Lu You. If I am not wrong, the literal meaning is "dark willows and bright flowers" but it also means something like “every cloud has a silver lining” or “there is a light at the end of the tunnel”. I really liked that idea and thought that the image conveyed was very elegant, so (naively) I decided to get a tattoo of that. Now (ok, I know I am late but I was pretty young at that time) I am starting to get paranoid: did I do the right research at that time? Does that expression have a negative meaning or is it lame? Be honest, I take no offence. I would really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance!
Aug 25, 2014 7:10 PM
Answers · 12
2
Yes, Please don't worry about it. "柳暗花明" it is meaning the good things are coming, the bad things are gone, and your wishes will come ture soon. It is good you.
August 26, 2014
1
柳暗花明: 柳:willow 暗:today this character means dark but here, it means dense-----the willow grows so well so dense that it covers the sun, so the color here become dark. 花:flower 明:colorful 柳暗花明 is a 成语,柳暗 describes the dense willow and 花明 describes the colorful flower. anyway, this 成语 describes a view of flourishing plant. this 成语 comes from 山重水复疑无路,柳暗花明又一村. 山:mountain 重:repeat 水:water but here, it means river(only in the poem) 复:repeat 疑:doubt 无:no / none 路:route 柳暗花明:i have explained 又:again 一:one 村:village this phrase describes that a person is walking in a mountain. He can only see the rock and river again and again, he cant find any route. So he doubts that he is lost. but suddenly, he find some flourishing plant and after these plants, he find a village, which means he has found a route, he has not been lost any more. today, we use just 柳暗花明 to express that we have been stuck in somewhere and we think we lose, but then we find a way to get rid of it and get success. then we can say: 柳暗花明 for example, u are working on a very very hard math problem, u are stuck and u think u cant solve it. suddenly, u find a way to solve it, now u can say: 真是柳暗花明啊! this word is NOT a negative word at all. but make sure that u have understood what i have said here very well before u make your tattoo.
August 26, 2014
1
the whole sentence 山重水复疑无路,柳暗花明又一村 means having gone through all the hardships,at the very last hopeless moment you can embrace the bright future. so 柳暗花明signifies good wishes and it's really elegant. so do not worry just because you picked a cool and meaningful tattoo. wish you 一切顺利,美梦成真!
August 26, 2014
A tattoo is graphics on human skin, and not an academic discussion on paper. So be ready for associations, puns and doubles-entendres. The calligraphy also carries its own undertones. Some scripts evokes a scholar's study; some others evoke a restaurant or a nightclub. The body part also matters. A tattoo in the lower spine area will trigger different associations from the same tattoo on the forearm. People, graphics, art and the world are not so simple. We have to see a picture of it before we can do some predictions as to international thought associations. It's the realm of Freud and Jung.
August 26, 2014
I think, 山重水复 is better than 柳暗花明.
September 5, 2014
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