8 Chinese Idioms About Aging — How China Honors Growing Old

Misfortune might be a blessing

Literal: Old man loses horse

The Huainanzi tells of a man living out by the frontier, known ever since as the Old Man of the Frontier — 塞翁, from 塞, a border pass, and 翁, an old man. His horse (马) was lost (失), simply ran off. His neighbours came to console him and he asked how they knew it was not good fortune; the horse return...

Experience brings wisdom

Literal: Old horse knows way

Returning from a campaign against Guzhu, the army of Duke Huan of Qi lost the road, and Guan Zhong proposed releasing the old horses (老马) and following them: they had walked the route before and would know the way (识途). They did, and the army got home. The Han Feizi tells it. What makes it a story r...

Success after long preparation

Literal: Thick accumulation thin launch

This is from Su Shi of the Song dynasty, who advised a friend to observe widely but take sparingly, to accumulate thickly and release thinly — 博观而约取，厚积而薄发. Deep (厚) accumulation (积) should issue in slight (薄) output (发). The counsel is against publishing early and often: what is put out should be a ...

Youthful despite old age

Literal: Crane hair, child face

Hair (发) white as a crane's (鹤) with the face (颜) of a child (童). Both halves are drawn from Daoist longevity literature, where the crane is a standard emblem of long life and the retained childlike complexion is what successful cultivation was supposed to produce. The phrase does not simply mean ol...

Contentment with what one has brings happiness

Literal: Know enough constant happiness

The Daodejing supplies the thought in several places: there is no calamity greater than not knowing when one has enough, and the contentment that knows enough (知足) is enough for good (常乐). The claim is stronger than an argument for modest living — it is that sufficiency is a judgement rather than a ...

Choose simpler pleasures over status displays

Literal: Peaceful walking substitutes carriage

This is from the Strategies of the Warring States, where the scholar Yan Chu declines the patronage of King Xuan of Qi. Offered position and a carriage, he answers that he would rather eat late so that plain food tastes like meat, and walk unhurried (安步) so that walking serves as (当) a carriage (车)....

Grow old together; lifelong partnership

Literal: White heads together in old age

White (白) heads (头) reaching old age (老) side by side (偕). The Book of Songs supplies the wish — 及尔偕老, to grow old with you — and the white hair was added later to give it a picture. It is a blessing rather than a description: nobody says it about a marriage in progress. It is said at weddings and a...

Gradual accumulation builds up

Literal: Days pile months gather

Piled up (积) by the day (日), accumulated (累) by the month (月). Its usefulness is that it names the timescale rather than the effort — what it describes is not diligence but duration. Chinese uses it in both directions, which is worth noticing. Skill and savings accumulate this way, and so do bad hab...