# 一顧傾人城



## elchoco

this is from jai ren qu.


一顧傾*人城*,

再顧傾人国。

does this mean "a city"?  Or is it an actual place?

thank you!


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## Libai

Eso es un poema de antigua China, lo extende un Idioma "倾国倾城"  que expresa una guapisma.

人城 significa mucha gente,no tiene ningun sentido de una ciudad o un sitio.


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## elchoco

Thank you libai, 

So, just a group of people? "a multitude"?  "a crowd"? Perhaps "a city" is ok in a figurative sense.

The next line has 人国 which is going to be even more people. I have translated it as "A nation".

How is this translation?

一顧傾人城,
再顧傾人国

One look disrupts a city 
Another destroys a nation

Patrick


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## Libai

Hello Patrick,

I think you've perfectly comprehended the meaning, but I still feel the translation lack of something for the verb "倾",  after all it entirely different language. But I really sure you've done a great job.

Yuan


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## xiaolijie

Literally: "one look causes people to lose their city, one more look causes them to lose their country". 
In essence, these two phrases describe someone being so beautiful that one of her looks would cause you to lose your mind and her second look could induce you to lose everything else you've got


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## elchoco

"destroys a city" and then "brings down a nation" ??

Obviously it's the same character 傾 in both.


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## Jerry Chan

北方有佳人，絕世而獨立，一顧傾人城，再顧傾人國。

I think 傾 just means 傾倒 (to attract /to be admired)
So 傾城/傾國 means a woman is so beautiful the whole city/nation is attracted to her.
It's supposed to be commendatory.

But as we all know beautiful women tend to bring about trouble in history.
We have Helen of Troy in Greek mythology and 西施/陳圓圓 in Chinese history.

And 傾倒 has thus become 傾覆 (to destroy/ bring down).


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## Libai

En la historia china,los hombres fueron machistas.Entonces, concluieron que las bellezas eran desgracisas.Pero, en este caso,el autor solo quiso describir una belleza que tuvo una bellza de 倾城倾国 y no hay ninguo sentido más.


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## JJchang

I don't think in the Chinese history the female beauty is a misfortune/disgrace....The meaning of that is the beauty of this particular woman let the leader of the country not attending the job he's supposed to do.


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## elchoco

yes, that's what I understand.  She had the beauty maybe of Cleopatra, such that made even the most sane men crumble.

(hablas español amigo !)


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## linglin66

对于“能三日不食，不能一日无女人”的汉武帝，李延年作此曲，无非投其所好，意在举荐自己的妹妹罢了。而汉武帝也确实纳其为妃，称“李夫人”，并宠爱有加，至李夫人病故后，仍念念不忘。


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## avlee

elchoco said:


> Thank you libai,
> 
> So, just a group of people? "a multitude"? "a crowd"? Perhaps "a city" is ok in a figurative sense.
> 
> The next line has 人国 which is going to be even more people. I have translated it as "A nation".
> 
> How is this translation?
> 
> 一顧傾人城,
> 再顧傾人国
> 
> One look disrupts a city
> Another destroys a nation
> 
> Patrick


There's already one good translation for this by a famous Chinese scholar.
I'll find out when I get back home and post it here for sharing.


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## Clement_Sun

lol   
一顾倾人城 
再顾倾人国
This poem is used to describe beauties like Helen of Troy.
here, 倾  has already been explained by Jerry Chan.   but  倾 has several meanings in Chinese.  one of them is  "to attract(她的美丽使人倾倒)", the other is "to collapse（围墙倾倒，烟尘弥漫）". The good point of using 倾 is that it's a pun here.

Besides, 人  here means   their or other's (others')


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## linglin66

That's the reason Chinese men said 红颜祸水。 They just shifted the blame onto women in this way.





elchoco said:


> yes, that's what I understand. She had the beauty maybe of Cleopatra, such that made even the most sane men crumble.
> 
> (hablas español amigo !)


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## xiaolijie

> They just shifted the blame onto women in this way.


 Also a kind of praise, if you like


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## avlee

Here comes the rendering that I enjoy the most for 倾国倾城: with one glance brings down a city and with another glance destroys a kingdom.


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