栩栩如生

Pronunciation: xǔ xǔ rú shēng Literal meaning: Vividly as if alive

Origin & Usage

栩栩 comes straight out of the Zhuangzi's butterfly dream — 栩栩然蝴蝶也, a butterfly vividly and contentedly itself — and the phrase adds 如生, as though alive. That origin is worth carrying: the point of the dream is that the butterfly did not know it was a man, so the vividness is complete from the inside. Applied to art, the phrase praises work that does not read as a representation of a living thing but as one.

Examples

English: "The sculptor's work was so realistic it seemed ready to move."

Chinese: 雕塑家的作品栩栩如生，仿佛随时会动起来。