Li Bai wrote of two children in the Changgan district of Nanjing:
"You came riding on a bamboo horse, circling the bed, playing with green plums.
We lived together in Changgan — two children without a trace of suspicion."
The phrase "青梅竹马" (green plums and bamboo horses) became the Chinese idiom for childhood sweethearts — the innocent play of children who later discover they were always meant for each other.
郎骑竹马来，绕床弄青梅。同居长干里，两小无嫌猜。
郎骑竹马来，绕床弄青梅。同居长干里，两小无嫌猜。
Reflection & Analysis · 寓意解读
Core Wisdom
The deepest love sometimes begins before either person knows what love is. Two children playing in the sun do not know they are building a lifetime.
Li Bai's poem is one of the most beloved in Chinese literature. The image of a boy riding a bamboo stick as a horse, a girl offering green plums as food — this is innocence at its purest. The phrase "青梅竹马" is now the standard Chinese expression for young love, for the relationship that grows from friendship into something deeper.