<p>海塘大堤 is a particular type of levee. Not all levees are seawalls. See <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A1%98%E5%A4%A7%E5%A0%A4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> and <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A1%98" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>.</p>

<p>横卧：It as a figurative use. The river is there like a person lying there. Something like that.</p>

<p>越往东越宽: There is no verb here. So no "moving".<br>
往 is not a verb here. <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22toward%22_with_%22wang%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">It is a preposition that means "towards"</a>.<br>
This just describes the rive, which is wider in the eastward. "The more eastward the wider".</p>

<p>昂首东望: 望 is not "hope" here. It means "look". The phrase means: raising one's head and looking east.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-18T06:00:21.783Z
2018-09-18T06:00:21.783Z
fefe
<blockquote>
<p>海塘大堤 is the full name of that type of levee (sea wall levee)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>~</p>
<blockquote>
<p>横卧 is a verb means 'lay across'; &quot;钱塘江 横卧 在眼前&quot; means &quot;Qiantang River lays across in front of my eyes (or lays across my view)&quot;</p>
<p>Example: 横卧在床上 = &quot;lay across the bed&quot; (not in the proper direction when you go to sleep)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>~</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[(越 )+ (X) + (越) + (Y)] is a common structure means &quot; the more it  (X) the more it becomes (Y)&quot;</p>
<p>越往东越宽 means &quot;(越 the more ) it (往东 heading East) (越 the more)  (宽 wide) it becomes&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>~</p>
<blockquote>
<p>beside &quot;hope&quot; , 望 is also a verb for &quot;to look&quot;</p>
<p>东望 means &quot;look Eastward&quot;</p>
<p>昂首东望 means &quot;raise one's head and look Eastward&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>天下奇观 should be translated as &quot;a wonder of the world&quot;</em></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-18T05:56:40.837Z
2018-09-18T06:07:09.323Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<ol>
<li><p>海塘 and 大堤 are the synonyms. So, you can just take either <em>seawall</em> or <em>levee</em>.</p></li>
<li><p>横卧 can just be interpreted as <strong><em>lie or lying</em></strong>. </p></li>
<li><p>越往东越宽 means <em>the further east the river goes, the wider it becomes</em>. </p></li>
<li><p>昂首东望 (ángshǒu dōng wàng): 昂首 means to <em>raise one's head</em>, as you say. 东 is <em>east</em>. 望 means 看. 东望 means 东看 or 向东看，<em>looking (towards) east</em>.</p></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-18T06:14:06.330Z
2018-09-18T06:14:06.330Z
dan
<p>This is the first part of <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E5%87%BA%E7%89%88%E7%A4%BE/899950" rel="nofollow noreferrer">语文四年级上册</a> (a grade-4 Chinese textbook), and the transcript is here <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%A7%82%E6%BD%AE/17574145" rel="nofollow noreferrer">观潮</a> (guāncháo = tide watching).</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>钱塘江大潮，自古以来被称为天下奇观。<br>
  　　农历八月十八是一年一度的观潮日。这一天早上，我们来到了海宁市的盐官镇，据说这里是观潮最好的地方。我们随着观潮的人群，登上了海塘大堤。宽阔的钱塘江横卧在眼前。江面很平静，越往东越宽，在雨后的阳光下，笼罩着一层蒙蒙的薄雾。镇海古塔、中山亭和观潮台屹立在江边。远处，几座小山在云雾中若隐若现。江潮还没有来，海塘大堤上早已人山人海。大家昂首东望，等着，盼着。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I translate this to:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Qiantang River's big lake, since ancient times has been known as Earthly wonder.<br>
  The lunar calendar's 8-th month 18-th day is the annual tide-watching.  This day in the morning, we come to Haining city's Yanguan district; reportedly, here is tide-watching's best place.  We, along with a tide-watching group, climb over the large seawall [海塘大堤].  Wide Qiantang River reclines [横卧] in front of our eyes. The surface of the river is tranquil, incrementally moving east and wider [越往东越宽]; in the after-rain sunshine, there is an enveloping layer of drizzly mist. In Zhenhai distict and Guta district, Zhongshan pavilion and tide-watching terraces tower on the river bank.  In the distance, a few small mountains in the mist are faintly discernible.  The river's tide has not yet come, and on the large seawall for a long time there's been a vast crowd.  Everyone [昂首东望 (?)], waiting, anticipating.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I encounter a few issues here:</p>

<ul>
<li>I'm not sure how to interpret 海塘大堤 (hǎitáng dàdī): we have both <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A1%98/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">海塘</a> (seawall) and <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E5%A4%A7%E5%A0%A4/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">大堤</a> (levee) which seem redundant.  Could 海塘 be the name of the 大堤?</li>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E6%A8%AA%E5%8D%A7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">横卧</a> (héngwò) translates to "to recline", but it seems strange that a river "reclines".  This doesn't make sense to me.</li>
<li>I'm not sure if I'm interpreting 越往东越宽 correctly.  I think it means the river (or lake) is incrementally moving eastwards and getting wider. <a href="https://translate.google.cn/#zh-CN/en/%E8%B6%8A%E5%BE%80%E4%B8%9C%E8%B6%8A%E5%AE%BD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Translate</a> gives "the more eastward the wider", which is not so clear to me.</li>
<li>I unclear about 昂首东望 (ángshǒu dōng wàng): <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E6%98%82%E9%A6%96/#keyfrom=dict2.top" rel="nofollow noreferrer">昂首</a> means to raise one's head, but <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%9C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">东</a> means "East" and <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E6%9C%9B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">望</a> means "to hope".  <a href="https://translate.google.cn/#zh-CN/en/%E6%98%82%E9%A6%96%E4%B8%9C%E6%9C%9B" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Translate</a> gives "looking east", which is probably accurate.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: How do I resolve issues with my translation of a 观潮?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-29T14:54:22.460Z
Note: in the first line, you seem to have misread 潮 as 湖. The ‘wonder of the world’ being alluded to is the _tide_ on the Qiantang River, not a river lake.
Janus Bahs Jacquet
<translation>
How do I resolve issues with my translation of a snippet about 观潮 (guāncháo = tide watching) from a 4-th grade Chinese book?
# How do I resolve issues with my translation of a snippet about 观潮 (guāncháo = tide watching) from a 4-th grade Chinese book?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-09-18)

This is the first part of [语文四年级上册](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E5%87%BA%E7%89%88%E7%A4%BE/899950) (a grade-4 Chinese textbook), and the transcript is here [观潮](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%A7%82%E6%BD%AE/17574145) (guāncháo = tide watching).

> 钱塘江大潮，自古以来被称为天下奇观。  
> 　　农历八月十八是一年一度的观潮日。这一天早上，我们来到了海宁市的盐官镇，据说这里是观潮最好的地方。我们随着观潮的人群，登上了海塘大堤。宽阔的钱塘江横卧在眼前。江面很平静，越往东越宽，在雨后的阳光下，笼罩着一层蒙蒙的薄雾。镇海古塔、中山亭和观潮台屹立在江边。远处，几座小山在云雾中若隐若现。江潮还没有来，海塘大堤上早已人山人海。大家昂首东望，等着，盼着。

I translate this to:

> Qiantang River's big lake, since ancient times has been known as Earthly wonder.  
> The lunar calendar's 8-th month 18-th day is the annual tide-watching. This day in the morning, we come to Haining city's Yanguan district; reportedly, here is tide-watching's best place. We, along with a tide-watching group, climb over the large seawall [海塘大堤]. Wide Qiantang River reclines [横卧] in front of our eyes. The surface of the river is tranquil, incrementally moving east and wider [越往东越宽]; in the after-rain sunshine, there is an enveloping layer of drizzly mist. In Zhenhai distict and Guta district, Zhongshan pavilion and tide-watching terraces tower on the river bank. In the distance, a few small mountains in the mist are faintly discernible. The river's tide has not yet come, and on the large seawall for a long time there's been a vast crowd. Everyone [昂首东望 (?)], waiting, anticipating.

I encounter a few issues here:

* I'm not sure how to interpret 海塘大堤 (hǎitáng dàdī): we have both [海塘](http://youdao.com/w/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A1%98/) (seawall) and [大堤](http://youdao.com/w/%E5%A4%A7%E5%A0%A4/) (levee) which seem redundant. Could 海塘 be the name of the 大堤?
* [横卧](http://youdao.com/w/%E6%A8%AA%E5%8D%A7) (héngwò) translates to "to recline", but it seems strange that a river "reclines". This doesn't make sense to me.
* I'm not sure if I'm interpreting 越往东越宽 correctly. I think it means the river (or lake) is incrementally moving eastwards and getting wider. [Google Translate](https://translate.google.cn/#zh-CN/en/%E8%B6%8A%E5%BE%80%E4%B8%9C%E8%B6%8A%E5%AE%BD) gives "the more eastward the wider", which is not so clear to me.
* I unclear about 昂首东望 (ángshǒu dōng wàng): [昂首](http://youdao.com/w/%E6%98%82%E9%A6%96/#keyfrom=dict2.top) means to raise one's head, but [东](http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%9C) means "East" and [望](http://youdao.com/w/%E6%9C%9B) means "to hope". [Google Translate](https://translate.google.cn/#zh-CN/en/%E6%98%82%E9%A6%96%E4%B8%9C%E6%9C%9B) gives "looking east", which is probably accurate.

**Question**: How do I resolve issues with my translation of a 观潮?

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Note: in the first line, you seem to have misread 潮 as 湖. The ‘wonder of the world’ being alluded to is the _tide_ on the Qiantang River, not a river lake.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-09-18. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

海塘大堤 is a particular type of levee. Not all levees are seawalls. See [this](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A1%98%E5%A4%A7%E5%A0%A4) and [this](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E5%A1%98).

横卧：It as a figurative use. The river is there like a person lying there. Something like that.

越往东越宽: There is no verb here. So no "moving".  
往 is not a verb here. [It is a preposition that means "towards"](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22toward%22_with_%22wang%22).  
This just describes the rive, which is wider in the eastward. "The more eastward the wider".

昂首东望: 望 is not "hope" here. It means "look". The phrase means: raising one's head and looking east.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-09-18. Score: 2

> 海塘大堤 is the full name of that type of levee (sea wall levee)

~

> 横卧 is a verb means 'lay across'; "钱塘江 横卧 在眼前" means "Qiantang River lays across in front of my eyes (or lays across my view)"
>
> Example: 横卧在床上 = "lay across the bed" (not in the proper direction when you go to sleep)

~

> [(越 )+ (X) + (越) + (Y)] is a common structure means " the more it (X) the more it becomes (Y)"
>
> 越往东越宽 means "(越 the more ) it (往东 heading East) (越 the more) (宽 wide) it becomes"

~

> beside "hope" , 望 is also a verb for "to look"
>
> 东望 means "look Eastward"
>
> 昂首东望 means "raise one's head and look Eastward"

*天下奇观 should be translated as "a wonder of the world"*


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-09-18. Score: 1

1. 海塘 and 大堤 are the synonyms. So, you can just take either *seawall* or *levee*.
2. 横卧 can just be interpreted as ***lie or lying***.
3. 越往东越宽 means *the further east the river goes, the wider it becomes*.
4. 昂首东望 (ángshǒu dōng wàng): 昂首 means to *raise one's head*, as you say. 东 is *east*. 望 means 看. 东望 means 东看 or 向东看，*looking (towards) east*.


---

