青出于蓝

Pronunciation: qīng chū yú lán Literal meaning: Blue comes from indigo plant

Origin & Usage

Xunzi opens his chapter on learning with it: 青，取之于蓝，而青于蓝 — blue (青) is taken from (出于) the indigo plant (蓝), and is bluer than the plant. The point is the student's, not the teacher's: nothing is being criticised, and the dye is better precisely because the plant existed. Common speech runs it as 青出于蓝而胜于蓝, adding the surpassing explicitly. Pupils outdoing masters, children outdoing parents — and the compliment lands on both.

Examples

English: "The young researcher's innovations built upon and ultimately surpassed her mentor's original theories"

Chinese: 这位年轻研究员的创新建立在导师理论基础之上，最终超越了原有理论