开天辟地

Pronunciation: kāi tiān pì dì Literal meaning: Open sky split earth

Origin & Usage

This is the creation itself: Pangu, the giant of Chinese myth, splitting the undifferentiated mass apart so that sky (天) opened (开) above and earth (地) was cleft (辟) below. Because it names the first event of all, the phrase sets an extremely high bar — it is not for something merely new but for something with no precedent whatever, the first of its kind rather than the best of it. Chinese speakers use it sparingly for that reason, and applying it to an ordinary product launch sounds as inflated in Chinese as the equivalent would in English.

Examples

English: "The invention of the internet opened up a whole new world of possibilities."

Chinese: 他的研究开天辟地，改变了整个行业。