10 Chinese Idioms About Hard Work & Diligence

Persist despite difficult conditions

Literal: Wind rain no hindrance

Wind (风) and rain (雨) constitute no (无) obstacle (阻). It is a promise rather than a description: what is asserted is that the arrangement holds regardless of conditions. Weather stands in for every ordinary excuse, which is why the phrase turns up on notices for events that intend to go ahead. It is...

Race against time; make every second count

Literal: Fighting for minutes and seizing seconds

This modern idiom emerged during China's industrialization period in the 20th century, reflecting the urgency of national development. It combines 'fighting for' (争) minutes (分) and 'seizing' (夺) seconds (秒) to emphasize making the most of every moment. The phrase became particularly popular during ...

Being practical and down-to-earth

Literal: Feet stepping on solid ground

Feet (脚) planted (踏) on solid (实) ground (地). Sima Guang, who spent nineteen years compiling a history of thirteen centuries, is the man the phrase attached itself to — a contemporary is said to have used it of him, and the fit is obvious enough that it stuck. What it praises is not effort but conta...

Wholeheartedly; with undivided attention

Literal: One heart one mind

One (一) heart (心), one (一) intention (意). The repetition is doing the work: 心 and 意 are separate faculties in Chinese, feeling and purpose, and the phrase insists that both are pointed the same way, which is a stronger claim than concentration alone. Its opposites are instructive — 三心二意, three heart...

Devote oneself completely; work until exhausted

Literal: Bow and exhaust oneself completely

To bend the body (鞠躬) and spend oneself utterly (尽瘁). The line is from Zhuge Liang's second memorial before marching north: your servant will bow himself to the task and give out his whole strength, and stop only at death — and whether it ends in success or failure is not something his foresight can...

Continue until death; lifelong commitment

Literal: Only stop after death

Zengzi, in the Analects, says a gentleman's burden is heavy and his road long: 仁以为己任，不亦重乎？死而后已，不亦远乎？ — he takes benevolence as his own charge, and stops (已) only after (后) death (死). Zhuge Liang borrowed the four characters seven centuries later in the memorial before his northern campaigns, pairing...

Heavy burden and long journey ahead

Literal: Heavy responsibility, long road

A heavy (重) load (任) and a long (远) road (道). The line is Zengzi's rather than Confucius's, in the Analects: the man of service cannot do without breadth and resolve, because his load is heavy and his road long. Both halves are then explained, and the explanation is the point — the load is heavy bec...

Endure hardships of travel; rough it

Literal: Eat in wind, sleep in dew

Taking meals (餐) in the wind (风) and sleeping (宿) in the dew (露). The two nouns are chosen for being what you get instead of a roof, and neither is dramatic — no storms, no snow, just the ordinary outdoors happening to somebody with nowhere to be. That understatement is where the weight comes from. ...

At peak of youth's ability

Literal: Bearing and talent in full bloom

The point at which somebody's bearing and talent (风华) are in fullest flower (正茂). Unlike most entries here it is modern rather than classical, and owes its currency to twentieth-century writing about youth. It is used of a period of life rather than a single achievement, and carries a sense of power...

Natural selection eliminates the unfit

Literal: Superior wins inferior eliminated

The superior (优) prevail (胜), the inferior (劣) are washed out (汰). This is not a classical idiom: it entered Chinese in the late Qing through Yan Fu's translation of Huxley, in the wave of thinking about survival and struggle that reached China at the moment it was losing wars to industrial powers. ...