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滄海桑田

简沧海桑田 · 繁滄海桑田

Mandarin · pinyin cāng hǎi sāng tián

lit. the blue sea turned into mulberry fields (idiom)
fig. the transformations of the world

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Characters in this entry

滄: Look up this written character
海: hǎi · sea, ocean; maritime
桑: sāng · mulberry tree; surname
田: tián · field, arable land, cultivated
沧: cāng · blue, dark green; cold

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

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Mandarin tones

1–3–1–2 · cang1 hai3 sang1 tian2

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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.

滄海桑田 · find source passages ↗ · 沧海桑田 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

cong1 hoi2 song1 tin4

Cantonese word readings for 滄海桑田. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) time brings drastic changes to the world; the vicissitudes of life

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

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