Do Chinese Palindromes Exist?

[tlevine]

Is there anything like the palindrome in Chinese?

[liuzhou]

Google is you friend.

[tlevine]

Hmm...I thought I had tried that but only gotten 33 results. I must have spelled something incorrectly.

[shibo77]

Yes, but they are mostly phrases or entire poems called 回文, 迴文 or 回环诗. 老子Laozi is famous for his palindromes in his 道德经Dao De Jing.

知者不言，言者不知。 --老子

潮随暗浪雪山倾，远浦渔舟钓月明。

桥对寺门松经小，槛当泉眼石波清。

迢迢绿树江天晚，霭霭红霞晓日晴。

遥望四边云接水，雪峰千点数鸥轻。

轻鸥数点千峰雪，水接云边四望遥。

晴日晓霞红霭霭，晚天江树绿迢迢。

清波石眼泉当槛，小径松门寺对桥。

明月钓舟渔浦远，倾山雪浪暗随潮。

--苏轼

[bloodline]

not only the poem,but also the words in the common life, just like ：蜜蜂酿蜂蜜 风扇能扇风 奶牛挤牛奶，

[anonymoose]

Does the language in that poem quoted by shibo77 actually follow chinese grammar? I realize it's not written in modern mandarin, and classical chinese was a completely different kettle of fish. I cannot really understand anything in that poem, save for each character individually, and this could be a result of my complete ignorance of classical chinese. But the feeling I get is that the poem just consists of a string of notional characters meant to evoke a picture in the reader's mind, whilst not actually constituting complete sentences. If this is the case, then without the constraints of complete or grammatical sentences, surely it would be easy (for a native speaker) to write such a 'palindromic' poem, the authenticity of which as a genuine palindrome is doubtful.

[melop]

Dear anonymoose, I think this poem by Sushi is an exceptional job and can be considered a genuine palindrome.

In fact, these characters do construct reasonable sentences, probably without any verb.

For example...

潮随暗浪雪山倾，远浦渔舟钓月明。

The tide follows the hidden waves, the snow mount bends.

The fish boat near the far island is "fishing" the bright moon.

And its reversed version:

明月钓舟渔浦远，倾山雪浪暗随潮。

The bright moon hooks the boat, the fishing island is far,

The snow tide coming from the mount follows the tide in secret.

Ancient Chinese poems often illustrate pictures in order to express the feelings of the poets. And I assure you that a native speaker like myself won't be able to produce a similar work with ease.