人定胜天

Pronunciation: rén dìng shèng tiān Literal meaning: Human will conquers nature

Origin & Usage

The classical sources have something narrower than the modern reading — that people (人) in sufficient numbers can prevail (胜) over heaven (天), meaning that human circumstances are not simply dictated by fate. The received modern sense reads 定 as determination and makes the phrase a general claim that human will defeats nature. That version had an enormous political career in twentieth-century China, as the slogan of campaigns to remake landscapes, some of which went very badly. Chinese speakers today use it both sincerely and with considerable irony, and the context decides which.

Examples

English: "With sheer determination, he overcame all obstacles that stood in his way."

Chinese: 凭借坚定的意志，人定胜天，他克服了所有的困难。