湖心亭看雪
Watching the Snow from the Mid-Lake Pavilion
Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597–c. 1684)
Qing · Written after 1644; first printed 1775

Cold Library · Open Stacks · S-002031 · https://coldlibrary.com/s/002031
Rights: Late Ming prose; the author died in the late 17th century, and the work was first printed in 1775. Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026. Guidance, not legal advice.
Source: Wikisource, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/陶庵夢憶/卷03 (retrieved 2026-10-11)
English translation: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0
Generated 2026-10-14 from https://coldlibrary.com/en/open-stacks/zhang-dai-snow-at-mid-lake-pavilion

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崇禎五年十二月，余住西湖。大雪三日，湖中人鳥聲俱絕。

是日更定矣，余拏一小舟，擁毳衣爐火，獨往湖心亭看雪。霧凇沆碭，天與雲、與山、與水，上下一白。湖上影子，惟長堤一痕，湖心亭一點，與余舟一芥，舟中人兩三粒而已。

到亭上，有兩人鋪氈對坐，一童子燒酒，爐正沸。見余大喜曰：「湖中焉得更有此人！」拉余同飲，余強飲三大白而別。問其姓氏，是金陵人，客此。

及下船，舟子喃喃曰：「莫說相公癡，更有癡似相公者。」

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崇祯五年十二月，余住西湖。大雪三日，湖中人鸟声俱绝。

是日更定矣，余拏一小舟，拥毳衣炉火，独往湖心亭看雪。雾凇沆砀，天与云、与山、与水，上下一白。湖上影子，惟长堤一痕，湖心亭一点，与余舟一芥，舟中人两三粒而已。

到亭上，有两人铺毡对坐，一童子烧酒，炉正沸。见余大喜曰：「湖中焉得更有此人！」拉余同饮，余强饮三大白而别。问其姓氏，是金陵人，客此。

及下船，舟子喃喃曰：「莫说相公痴，更有痴似相公者。」

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English translation by Claude (an AI)

In the twelfth month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, I was living by the West Lake. It had snowed heavily for three days, and on the lake every sound of people and birds had vanished.

That day, after the first watch of the night had been struck, I took a small boat and, wrapped in a fur coat with a little stove of coals, went alone to the pavilion in the middle of the lake to look at the snow. The frozen mist hung everywhere, and sky and cloud and hills and water were one whiteness above and below. The only shadows on the lake were a single stroke, the long causeway; a single dot, the mid-lake pavilion; my boat, a mustard seed; and the people in it, two or three grains.

When I reached the pavilion, there were two people sitting on a spread felt rug, facing each other, while a boy warmed wine and the stove was just coming to the boil. When they saw me they were overjoyed and said: "How can there be another person like this on the lake?" They pulled me in to drink with them. I made myself drink three large cups, and then took my leave. I asked their names: they were from Jinling, staying here as guests.

When I got back down into the boat, the boatman muttered: "Don't call the master mad. There are others as mad as the master."