DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

海晏河清

Mandarin · pinyin hǎi yàn hé qīng

(lit.) the Yellow River is clear and the seas are calm (idiom)
(fig.) the world is at peace

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime
晏: yàn · peaceful, quiet; clear; late in the day
河: hé · river; stream; the Yellow River
清: qīng · clear, pure, clean; peaceful

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4–2–1 · hai3 yan4 he2 qing1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

海晏河清 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to have peace and tranquility throughout the country or the world

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack