柳暗花明

Pronunciation: liǔ àn huā míng Literal meaning: Dark willows bright flowers

Origin & Usage

This comes from Lu You's Visiting a Village West of the Mountains, of the Southern Song: 山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村 — where the hills fold and the streams double back and there seems to be no road, the willows darken (柳暗) and the flowers brighten (花明), and there is another village. The turn arrives at the moment of giving up, and the village was always there. It names the way through that appears after everything looked shut, and the second half of the couplet is often quoted on its own.

Examples

English: "After months of setbacks, they finally had their breakthrough"

Chinese: 经过几个月的挫折，他们终于取得了突破