登鹳雀楼
dēng guàn què lóu
Climbing Stork Tower
王之涣 (Wang Zhihuan) · Tang Dynasty · 688–742
Original Text
白日依山尽，
bái rì yī shān jìn,
黄河入海流。
huáng hé rù hǎi liú.
欲穷千里目，
yù qióng qiān lǐ mù,
更上一层楼。
gèng shàng yī céng lóu.
English Translation
The white sun sets behind the mountains; the Yellow River flows into the sea. If you wish to see a thousand miles further, climb one more floor of the tower.
Historical Background
Written at Stork Tower (鹳雀楼) in Shanxi province, overlooking the Yellow River. The tower, originally built during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was a famous scenic spot. The poem has become a proverb for ambition and self-improvement — "climb one more floor" is used in everyday Chinese to mean "reach the next level."
Literary Analysis
The first two lines paint a vast panorama: the sun disappearing behind mountains, the river flowing to the distant sea. Both images convey immensity and the passage of things beyond human control. The final two lines pivot from observation to philosophy: to see further, you must climb higher. This metaphor for continuous self-improvement has made the poem an enduring motto in Chinese culture.
Details
Form
Five-character Quatrain (五言绝句)
Theme
Life & Philosophy
About Wang Zhihuan (王之涣)
Wang Zhihuan was a Tang Dynasty poet known for his frontier and landscape poetry. Despite only six of his poems surviving to the present day, two of them rank among the most famous in all of Chinese literature. He was admired for his bold and expansive vision.
2 poems by Wang Zhihuan in our collection
Traditional Chinese
白日依山盡，黃河入海流。欲窮千里目，更上一層樓。