饱经沧桑

Pronunciation: bǎo jīng cāng sāng Literal meaning: Fully experience seas to mulberry fields

Origin & Usage

沧桑 is short for 沧海桑田, the blue sea and the mulberry fields. Ge Hong's account of the immortal Ma Gu has her mention, in passing, that since entering service she has three times seen the Eastern Sea turn into mulberry fields — the scale is the whole point of the remark, and it is where the phrase gets its weight. To have had one's fill (饱) of passing through (经) changes of that order (沧桑) is to have lived through more upheaval than a single life should have to contain. People, cities and institutions, with wear implied as much as experience: something has been taken out of whatever it describes.

Examples

English: "The elderly shopkeeper had witnessed the neighborhood transform through war, rebuilding, and modernization"

Chinese: 年迈的店主目睹了这个社区经历战争、重建和现代化的变迁