This Cantonese song was created in 1982 as the theme song for the television drama series of the same name, 万水千山总是情 (Love and Passion).
In the late 1980s and early 1990s,
millions of migrant workers from inland China moved to the southern Guangdong province for manufacturing jobs.
This song became popularly used by the migrant Mandarin speakers for learning Cantonese due to its slower,
enunciated, and highly melodic structure.
莫說青山多障礙
風也急風也勁
白雲過山峰也可傳情
莫說水中多變幻
水也清水也靜
柔情似水愛共永
未怕罡風吹散了熱愛
萬水千山總是情
聚散也有天注定
不怨天不怨命
但求有山水共作證
The green hills may seem immovable,
and yet the wind, swift and strong,
bears the affection of white clouds
drifting over the mountaintops.
The waters may seem constantly shifting,
yet water also runs clear and still.
With tenderness, like water, is love eternal.
Fear not that the storms scatter our love,
a love of thousands of rivers and mountains,
for our ties are ordained by Heaven.
Blame neither Heaven nor fate;
ask only that the mountains and rivers
bear witness to our love.
