Chinese Tongue Twisters: Three Mountains, Four Rivers

How many Chinese tongue twisters (绕口令, ràokǒulìng) do you know?

Welcome to Ming Mandarin’s free online Mandarin Chinese lessons. In this lesson, I will introduce you a few very famous Chinese tongue twisters.

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If you know Chinese abbreviations, it would be relatively easier to understand the tongue twisters.

Chinese Tongue Twister

• 三山撑四水，四水绕三山，三山四水春常在，四水三山四时春
• Sānshān chēng sì shuǐ, sì shuǐ rào sānshān, sānshān sì shuǐ chūn cháng zài, sì shuǐ sānshān sì shí chūn

Tongue Twister Simplified

If you find this tongue twister difficult to pronounce, here is a simple breakup:

1. Sān shān chēng sì shuǐ (三山撑四水),
2. Sì shuǐ rào sān shān (四水绕三山),
3. Sān shān sì shuǐ chūn cháng zài (三山四水春常在), and
4. Sì shuǐ sān shān sì shí chūn (四水三山四时春).

Chinese Tongue Twister Interpretation

In this tongue twister, three mountains (三山, Sān shān) refer to the three mountains in Hunan (湖南, Húnán) province of China:

1. Hupingshan (壶瓶山, Hú píngshān): located in the northwestern part of Shimen County (石门县, Shímén xiàn),
2. Jiashan (夹山, Jiā shān) : south of Shimen County, and
3. Langshan (崀山, Làng shān): Xinning County (新宁县, Xīnníng xiàn)

The four rivers (四水, sì shuǐ) are the four major river systems (四大水系, Sì dà shuǐxì) of Hunan:

1. Xinag (湘, Xiāng),
2. Zi (资, zī),
3. Yuan (沅, yuán), and
4. Li (澧, lǐ).

Now let’s look at the following explanations:

1. 三山 (sān shān; three mountains) 撑 (chēng, support) 四水 (sì shuǐ, four rivers)
2. 四水 (sì shuǐ, four rivers) 绕 (rào, twine around) 三山 (sān shān, three mountains)
3. 三山 (sān shān, three mountains), 四水 (sì shuǐ, four rivers) 春常在 chūn cháng zài  (found in spring)
4. 四水 (sì shuǐ, four rivers) 三山 (sān shān, three mountains)  四时春 (sì shí chūn, four seasons are always like spring)

I hope now you are comfortable with this tongue twister. Let’s give a try once more:

• 三山撑四水，四水绕三山，三山四水春常在，四水三山四时春
• Sānshān chēng sì shuǐ, sì shuǐ rào sānshān, sānshān sì shuǐ chūn cháng zài, sì shuǐ sānshān sì shí chūn

How about new tongue twisters? Let’s try?

How do you feel about the Chinese tongue twisters?

Let me know. 🙂

– Jia Ming