竹轩

「宁可食无肉，不可居无竹」

I would rather go without meat than live without bamboo

— Su Shi, 'The Green Bamboo Pavilion of Yuqian Monk'

I'd sooner give up meat than live without bamboo — bamboo is the symbol of the noble person's spirit.

「咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中」

Biting fast into the green mountain, never letting go; its roots are firmly set in the cracked rock

— Zheng Banqiao, 'Bamboo and Rock'

The bamboo grips the green mountain and never lets go; its roots are anchored deep in fractured rock — steadfast and unyielding.

「气宇轩昂，声如洪钟」

An imposing presence, a voice like a resonant bell

— Chinese Idiom

A commanding presence and a voice as powerful as a great bell — describing someone full of vigor and dignified bearing.

「开轩面场圃，把酒话桑麻」

Opening the window to face the fields and gardens, I raise my cup and chat about crops and mulberry trees

— Meng Haoran, 'Visiting an Old Friend's Farmhouse'

Opening the window to look out over threshing floors and vegetable plots, raising a cup of wine to talk of crops — the contentment of rural life.