It came from a pot

[Glenn]

Can someone help me out with this one? It was actually posted on another forum (for Japanese learners), and it looks Chinese.

間人在氣清留底

or

底留清氣在人間

It was in the first order on the pot. My guess is it should be the second one, and it's something like "pure spirits dwell deep between humans." Alright, that's probably way off. Actually the first order may make more sense, but I don't know how to make sense out of 間人. "People of space dwell at the bottom of spirits' purity." That's probably not anywhere closer.

[studentyoung]

間人在氣清留底

or

底留清氣在人間

My guess is it should be the second one,

Right!

底here means "certainly".

〈副〉

1. 尽;极 [very]。如:底发(尽量发出);底烦(愁闷之至)

2. 的确;确实 [certainly]。如:底确(定准)

3. 另见 de

http://dict.baidu.com/s?wd=%B5%D7

底留清气在人间：The pure air / spirits should definitely be kept in the world.

[Kenny同志]

底留清气在人间

底 might be a typo, I think. This sentence doesn't make sense, nor does the other one.

[Glenn]

Oh, thanks, studentyoung! So 人間 means more "the world," as in secular affairs and stuff, than it does "between people," eh? A: yes, yes it does.

Heh, how could it not have occured to me that 百度 would have a dictionary?

[creamyhorror]

What exactly does the phrase mean? I mean, what is it referring to?

[Glenn]

That's a good question. Unfortunately I don't know. It was just on the side of a pot, with no other context given. It could be that the first character was misread, but I can't do any better than 底, unfortunately. Here's image:

http://i42.tinypic.com/287ekyd.jpg

[jbradfor]

A quick google search shows many similar phrases, but with a different first character (often 只), and the 在 replaced with 满, but that's pretty much the same meaning.

From this link the original is

如五绝《沐雨》云：“洗绿轻梳柳，滴红细润颜。尘埃一扫尽，清气满人间。”

[studentyoung]

http://i42.tinypic.com/287ekyd.jpg

Well, it looks like a flowerpot to me, which seems to be used for daffodils. Please, take a look at this->

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%CB%AE%CF%C9%BB%A8&in=14732&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=6&rn=1&di=1065549150&ln=2000&fr=&ic=0&s=0&se=1#pn6

Of cause, please also make sure that there’s no hole on the bottom of the pot.

If it’s really a daffodil pot, 清气 here implies the aroma of daffodils too.

[Glenn]

Haha, thanks for the images, studentyoung!

Well, one of the things I've learned for certain from this is that that was not nearly as straightforward as I thought it was going to be!