







桑田沧海 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Great and profound changes over time”. Referring to how drastically the world or circumstances can change, often implying a sense of vicissitude. Literally, “Mulberry fields turn into blue seas, and blue seas turn into mulberry fields”.
Long ago, the immortals Wang Yuan and Magu arranged to drink wine at Cai Jing's home.
Wang Yuan and his entourage soon arrived, but Magu was not there, so he sent a messenger to invite her.
When Magu arrived, she explained that she had been ordered to patrol Penglai.
She had already witnessed the East Sea transform into mulberry fields three times, and now the seawater had receded by half again.
Wang Yuan then remarked that soon, dust would be stirred up there once more.

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Open the tool →桑田沧海 (sāng tián cāng hǎi) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “Great and profound changes over time”.
桑田沧海 is pronounced sāng tián cāng hǎi in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 桑田沧海 means “Mulberry fields turn into blue seas, and blue seas turn into mulberry fields”. It is used to mean “Great and profound changes over time”.
桑田沧海 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
桑田:农田。大海变成桑田,桑田变成大海。比喻世事变化很大。