冰天雪地

Pronunciation: bīng tiān xuě dì Literal meaning: Ice sky snow earth

Origin & Usage

Ice (冰) for a sky (天) and snow (雪) for ground (地). The construction assigns the two elements to the two halves of the world, leaving nothing outside the cold, which is what distinguishes it from simply saying it is freezing. The phrase belongs to the Chinese northeast and to accounts of hardship — Qing poetry uses it of the destitute in winter. It is used both literally, of genuinely severe weather, and figuratively of conditions in which something has to be done anyway.

Examples

English: "The harsh winter landscape made it difficult for anyone to venture outside."

Chinese: 严寒的冬季景象让任何人都难以外出。