Success & Perseverance Chinese Idioms

Sudden, remarkable success

King Zhuang of Chu spent three years on the throne issuing no orders at all. An officer put him a riddle about a bird that for three years had neither...

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Unshakeable despite adversity

Cai Yong wrote it on Qiao Xuan's memorial stele: his nature was grave, he disliked show and held to the plain, and he had the bearing of a man who cou...

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Persistence achieves anything

The Song collection Helin Yulu attaches this to the magistrate Zhang Guaiya, who had a clerk flogged for a single copper coin, was told he would not d...

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Extremely popular

Zou Ji persuaded King Wei of Qi that everyone around him had a reason to flatter him, and the king proclaimed rewards for anyone who would name his fa...

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Effort is eventually repaid

Heaven's way (天道) repays (酬) diligence (勤). 酬 is the word for requiting a debt or returning a toast, so the claim is transactional: the effort is owed...

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Commit with no retreat

In 207 BCE Xiang Yu took his army across the river to relieve Julu, and then had the boats (舟) sunk (沉) and the cooking pots (釜) smashed (破), keeping ...

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Value time preciously

To guard (守) time (时) as though it were gold (如金). This is a modern four-character phrase, not a classical idiom: it has no source text, and it is for...

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Student surpasses master

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...

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Progress needs constant effort

A boat (舟) worked (行) against (逆) the current (水). The phrase is nearly always completed by its second half — 不进则退, if you do not advance you fall bac...

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Work harder to compensate

The clumsy (笨) bird (鸟) sets off first (先飞). The phrase belongs to vernacular drama and is most often said by the person about themselves, which is wh...

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Less effort, better results

This one comes from the Mencius, which argues that acting at the right moment takes half (半) the effort (事) of the ancients and produces double (倍) th...

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Already at a very high level of attainment

A verse of the Tang Chan master Changsha Jingcen, recorded in the Jingde Chuandenglu: a man at the top of a hundred-foot (百尺) pole (竿头) has attained s...

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Volunteer oneself confidently

Zhao needed an alliance with Chu and the Lord of Pingyuan could find only nineteen suitable men among his retainers. Mao Sui (毛遂) put himself (自) forw...

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Progress despite difficulties

Carrying (负) a weight (重) and walking on (前行). This one is modern rather than classical, and it owes its currency to a line that circulates widely: if...

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Small efforts make big results

腋 is the armpit, and the fur there is the softest on the animal and comes in scraps too small to be worth anything alone. Gathering (集) enough of them...

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Practice with determination

Zu Ti and Liu Kun shared a bed as junior officials and shared an ambition to see the north recovered. The History of the Jin records that in the middl...

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Extremely careful and thorough

Not letting a single (一) thread (丝) be done carelessly (不苟). The thread is a unit of measurement rather than a reference to weaving — on the old scale...

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Make difficult look easy

To lift (举) what is heavy (重) as though (若) it were light (轻). The phrase belongs to Qing literary criticism, where Zhao Yi used it of Su Shi's poetry...

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Have great vision

Hills (丘) and ravines (壑) already inside the chest (胸有). The phrase belongs to landscape painting, where the whole terrain was expected to exist in th...

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Progress from basic to advanced

Confucius said of his disciple Zilu that he had ascended (登) to the hall (堂) but not yet entered (入) the inner room (室) — competent, and not yet finis...

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Success comes naturally

Su Shi wrote it to a friend who was worrying ahead of events: when the water arrives (水到) the channel forms (渠成), there is no need to plan for it in a...

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Plan strategy carefully

Liu Bang, asked why he had won the empire when Xiang Yu was the better soldier, named three men he could not equal. Of Zhang Liang he said: 运筹帷幄之中，决胜千...

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Complete in one effort

At the Battle of Changshao the strategist Cao Gui held Duke Zhuang of Lu back while the invading Qi army beat its drums, and attacked only on the thir...

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Gradual accumulation builds up

Piled up (积) by the day (日), accumulated (累) by the month (月). Its usefulness is that it names the timescale rather than the effort — what it describe...

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Persevere until success

This comes from the Xunzi: carve and give up, and rotten wood will not break; carve (锲) without ceasing (不舍), and metal and stone can be worked. The c...

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Overcome all obstacles

The History of the Later Han records Emperor Guangwu presenting Feng Yi to his court as the man who had been his registrar when he first raised troops...

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Give out until nothing is left

This image comes from Li Shangyin's Untitled poem of the Tang dynasty: 春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干 — the spring (春) silkworm (蚕) spins until death (死) before its ...

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Study extremely hard

Two men, two methods. Sun Jing, of the Han, tied his hair to the roof beam (悬梁) so that nodding off would pull him upright. Su Qin, generations earlie...

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Study despite poverty

Kuang Heng's family could not afford lamp oil, so he bored (凿) a hole in the party wall (壁) and stole (偷) the light (光) that came through from the nei...

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Complete collapse

The vivid image of ice (冰) melting (消) and tiles (瓦) breaking apart (解) originated in military texts describing the sudden collapse of seemingly solid...

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Success through persistence

Li Bai, the story goes, had given up on his studies and was walking away when he met an old woman grinding down an iron pestle (铁杵). Asked what she wa...

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Persist despite impossibility

This poignant idiom comes from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Nüwa (女娃), the young daughter of Yandi the Flame Emperor, drowned in the Eastern Sea...

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Stand out from crowd

This one comes from the Shishuo Xinyu, on Ji Shao, of whom an onlooker said that seeing him in a crowd was like seeing a crane (鹤) standing (立) among ...

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Small things build achievement

The Lotus Sutra counts even children heaping sand into toy pagodas among the acts that lead toward buddhahood. Gathering (聚) sand (沙) makes (成) a towe...

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Focus intently

Eyes (目) that do not (不) turn (转) the pupil (睛). The precision is anatomical: not merely watching but the total absence of the small saccades a relaxe...

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In perfect element

In the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei answers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were unhappy at how close he had grown to the newly recruited Zhuge L...

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Exceptionally beautiful

This idiom joins two of the Four Beauties. The moon hiding (闭月) belongs to Diaochan, whose beauty was said to make the moon slip behind a cloud; flowe...

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Able to carry great responsibility

In the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Pang Tong assessed Gu Shao as an ox that could bear a heavy load (负重) over a long distance (致远) — steady rather ...

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Adversity is what finishes you

This comes from Zhang Zai's Western Inscription of the Song dynasty: 贫贱忧戚，庸玉女于成 — poverty, low station, worry and grief are the means by which you (汝)...

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Work day and night

To wear (披) the stars (星) and be crowned with (戴) the moon (月) — a person who leaves before dawn and returns after dark, so that the sky is never ligh...

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Finished without a break in it

Completed (成) in one (一) breath (气) — 呵 is the breath itself, the puff of warm air blown onto cold hands or onto a brush. What the phrase claims is no...

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Extremely rare

A phoenix's (凤) feather (毛) and a qilin's (麟) horn (角). Neither animal is ordinarily to be met with at all, so the phrase names not scarcity but the p...

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Perfect moment of opportunity

Wind (风) and cloud (云) coming together (际会) at the same moment. The Book of Changes supplies the underlying image, where clouds follow the dragon and ...

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Come close enough to rival — usually negated

This vivid phrase describes only being able to see someone's neck (项) and back (背) while looking up (望) at them, originally appearing in Confucian tex...

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Moving in overwhelming numbers

Vast (浩浩) and sweeping (荡荡) — a doubling that Chinese uses for water in volume, and the Yueyang Tower essay applies a close variant to the lake stretc...

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Constantly improve

This descends from Zhu Xi's commentary on a line in the Analects about cutting and polishing: what has already been worked finely (精) should be worked...

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Concentrate fully

To gather (聚) the vital essence (精) and bring together (会) the spirit (神). The vocabulary is that of Daoist inner cultivation, where 精 and 神 are two o...

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Achieve instinctive mastery

After three years of practice, Cook Ding in the Zhuangzi no longer saw the whole (全) ox (牛): his eyes (目) stopped registering the animal as a single o...

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Everything in right place

Each (各) obtaining (得) its (其) proper place (所). The Book of Changes uses it of a market where everyone has exchanged what they came to exchange and g...

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Success after long preparation

This is from Su Shi of the Song dynasty, who advised a friend to observe widely but take sparingly, to accumulate thickly and release thinly — 博观而约取，厚...

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Courage under pressure

Meeting (临) danger (危) without (不) fear (惧). The formulation descends from the Zhuangzi's praise of the man who faces great peril without alarm, and i...

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Press on despite awareness of challenges

To know (知) the difficulty (难) and advance (进) anyway. It is built as the deliberate opposite of 知难而退, withdrawing in the face of difficulty, and the ...

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Impenetrable defenses

In the Book of Han, Kuai Tong warns what will follow if the magistrate who surrendered first is put to death: the other border towns will hear of it, ...

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Invest utmost effort and emotion

Li He wrote by riding out with a bag, dropping lines into it as they came, and working them up at night; his mother, looking at the bag, said this boy...

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Reach highest attainable level

In the Shishuo Xinyu, Sima Yu — later Emperor Jianwen of Jin — answers the Buddhist claim that refining the spirit can make a man a sage: 不知便可登峰造极不？然陶...

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Advance boldly through difficulty

To advance (进) bravely (勇) into the rapid current (急流). It exists as the deliberate counterpart of 急流勇退, withdrawing at the height of the rapids, and ...

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Work through the entire night

Through (通) the night (宵) and reaching (达) daybreak (旦). 旦 is a picture of the sun above the horizon line, so the phrase names its own endpoint: the w...

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Absolutely flawless and thorough

So tightly made that not a drop (滴) of water (水) leaks (漏) through it. Vernacular fiction applies it to speech and to plans rather than to roofs — an ...

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Craftsmanship beyond natural limits

This descends from a line by Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan dynasty on human artifice seizing the work of heaven — 人间巧艺夺天工. Skill (巧) so fine that it wrests ...

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Extraordinary healing skill

Marvellous (妙) hands (手) that bring back (回) the spring (春). Chinese medicine describes health as a seasonal balance restored rather than a fault repa...

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Perfected through repeated refinement

A thousand (千) hammer blows (锤) and a hundred (百) temperings (炼). The metallurgy is real: folded steel is worked and reheated repeatedly, each cycle d...

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Handle everything with practised ease

This comes from the Mencius, which says that one who has gone deep in learning will find, reaching left or right, that he meets the source — 取之左右逢其原. ...

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Strive continuously for self-improvement

This motivational idiom advocates constantly (不息) strengthening (强) oneself (自), originating from the Classic of Changes during the early Zhou Dynasty...

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Persist despite difficult conditions

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 regard...

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Create effortlessly from mastery

Reaching out casually (信手) and plucking up (拈来) exactly the right thing, without hunting for it. The phrase itself is Chan Buddhist — a monk's verse i...

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Maintain perfect composure under pressure

泰然 is settled and expansive — 泰 is the Book of Changes hexagram for peace, heaven and earth in communication — and 自若 means being as one was. So the c...

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Excellence develops with time

This is from the Laozi: 大方无隅，大器晚成 — the greatest square has no corners, the greatest vessel (大器) is completed (成) late (晚). The line sits in a series ...

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Endure hardship for future success

Goujian of Yue, beaten and made to serve Fuchai of Wu, was let home and set about not forgetting it. The Records of the Grand Historian describes what...

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Persistence overcomes huge obstacles

The Liezi tells of an old man of ninety whose way out was blocked by two mountains, and who began shifting (移) them (山) away a basket at a time. A wid...

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Quitting before completion

In the Doctrine of the Mean, Confucius says that the noble person walks the way and gives up (废) half (半) way along the road (途) — and that he himself...

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Perfect execution without revision

The Book of Later Han says of Mi Heng that he took up the brush at a banquet and finished a long rhapsody on the spot — 文无加点, writing that took no add...

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Lasting impact of performance

This is from the Liezi, on the singer Han E, who travelled east to Qi and, out of food, paid for a meal with a song at the Yong Gate; after she left, ...

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Flawless and perfectly seamless

This is from a Tang tale in which a man meets a weaver girl from heaven and notices that her robe (天衣) has no (无) seam (缝) anywhere; asked about it, s...

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Courage balanced with careful attention

The physician Sun Simiao set out the pairing in his writing on medical practice: the gall (胆) should be large (大) and the heart (心) small (细), the int...

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Unlimited potential for future success

The road ahead (前途) without (无) measure (量). 量 is capacity or a quantity measured out, so the claim is that no ceiling can be put on the future — whic...

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Excellence that outshines all others

This one comes from the Mencius, where Confucius is described as having come out from his kind and risen above the gathered crowd — 出于其类，拔乎其萃. To emer...

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Youthful vigor despite old age

The 龙马 is a single creature, not two: the dragon-horse that rose from the Yellow River bearing the diagram on its back, in the legend of how the trigr...

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Wielding extraordinary influence over others

To summon (呼) the wind (风) and call up (唤) the rain (雨). The image comes from the world of ritual weather-working, and the phrase has kept the sense o...

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Heroically reversing catastrophic situation

Han Yu, in the piece usually called On the Advancement of Learning, has a student praise his teacher for damming the hundred rivers and turning back t...

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Extraordinary popularity of intellectual work

In the Jin dynasty, Zuo Si's Rhapsody on the Three Capitals became so admired that everyone in Luoyang (洛阳) copied it out by hand, and the price of pa...

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Methodical and well-organized action

This is from the Book of Documents, which likens good order to a net held by its main rope: then there are strands (有条) and no tangle (不紊). The image ...

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Continue efforts with undiminished enthusiasm

This is from a linked poem by Han Yu and Meng Jiao on cockfighting: between rounds the bird engages again (再接) and again whets (再厉) its beak on the gr...

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Vibrant youthful energy and enthusiasm

朝气 is the vigour of the early morning, set in Chinese against 暮气, the flatness of evening, and the pair is used of people rather than of times of day....

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Rush eagerly to be first, not last

The competitive atmosphere of the Han Dynasty imperial court gave birth to this phrase describing the twin drives of striving to be first (争先) while f...

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Self-reliance without external dependence

By one's own strength (自力), renewed life (更生). The vocabulary is Buddhist in origin, where 更生 is rebirth, and the phrase acquired its modern weight en...

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Perfect accuracy every single time

This comes from the Strategies of the Warring States, on the archer Yang Youji of Chu, who could hit a willow leaf at a hundred paces so reliably that...

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Uniquely blessed with natural advantages

To have received (得) from heaven (天) a uniquely (独) generous portion (厚). What the phrase specifies is that the advantage was there before anyone did ...

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Make a comeback after setback or retirement

Xie An spent his early manhood in the hills at Kuaiji, declining office and keeping company with writers, until his family's position collapsed and he...

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So absorbed as to neglect basic needs

To give up (废) sleep (寝) and forget (忘) food (食). The two verbs are different and the difference matters: sleep is deliberately abandoned, and meals a...

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Attempt an extremely difficult search

To dredge (捞) for a needle (针) at the bottom of the sea (海底). The commoner form is 大海捞针. What makes the image work is the mismatch of dimensions rathe...

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Strong start with weak finish

A tiger's head (虎头) on a snake's tail (蛇尾). The mismatch is the argument, and it is precise about the failure: the beginning was not merely good but i...

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Achieve immediate success

The horse (马) arrives (到) and the thing succeeds (成功). It belongs to Yuan drama, where a general's mount reaching the field is the moment the outcome ...

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Latecomers surpass the early starters

Ji An, passed over while men appointed after him were promoted past him, said it to Emperor Wu's face: Your Majesty uses officials the way one stacks ...

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Being practical and down-to-earth

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 at...

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Wholeheartedly; with undivided attention

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 ph...

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Fully display one's skill and ability

To display (大显) one's person and hands (身手) — 身手 is a compound meaning physical skill, the whole body's competence rather than a technique. The phrase...

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Emerging rapidly in great numbers

Bamboo shoots (春笋) after (后) rain (雨). The observation is accurate rather than poetic: moso bamboo shoots can put on a great deal of height in a day o...

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To disregard; put aside consideration of

To place (置) something (之) outside (外) what is being reckoned (度). Emperor Guangwu, holding most of the empire with two hold-outs left, said he would ...

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Capable of taking charge independently

Zhang Liang, advising Liu Bang on whom he could afford to rely on, said that of his generals only Han Xin could be trusted with great affairs and hold...

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Incomparable; unparalleled

Nothing (无) with which (与) to rank it (伦比). 伦 means a category or a peer group, so the claim is not that the thing is the best but that no comparison ...

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Indomitable; unyielding

Neither (不) bending (屈) nor (不) yielding (挠). 屈 is to bend something that ought to be straight and 挠 is to give way under a load, so the two halves co...

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Smooth sailing; everything going well

One (一) sail (帆), the wind (风) following (顺). 顺风 is wind from astern, the condition under which a junk simply goes, and the phrase is a sailor's befor...

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Press forward courageously

Going forward (一往) with nothing (无) in front (前). The phrase is grammatically ambiguous in a productive way: nothing ahead can be read as no obstacle ...

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Easy; effortless

Light (轻) and therefore easy (易) to lift (举). The image is of picking something up and finding it weighs nothing, which is a particular kind of ease: ...

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Highest level of mastery; consummate skill

In alchemy the furnace (炉) fire (火) shifting to a pure (纯) blue-green (青) marked the point at which the heat was finally right and the transmutation c...

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Rank among the best; be at the top

An army on the march sent its forward party ahead carrying reeds (茅) as signals, and to be listed (列) among that front (前) group was to be at the very...

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Clear away confusion to see the truth

Parting (拨) the cloud (云) to see (见) the sun (日). 拨 is a hand movement, sweeping something aside, and that is what separates the phrase from the weath...

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One of a kind; unique

Alone (独) one (一), and without (无) a second (二). Both halves make the same claim and the doubling is the emphasis: not rare, not the best of its kind,...

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Build up from nothing; self-made

Starting (起) a household (家) with bare (白) hands (手). 白 is empty here rather than the colour — the same 白 as in 白跑一趟, a trip made for nothing — so wha...

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For the first time ever; unprecedented

This idiom describes breaking (破) through heaven's (天) wasteland (荒). It originates from Tang Dynasty examination history when the Jingzhou region, lo...

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Each shows their special skills

Each one (各) displaying (显) their divine powers (神通). 神通 is a Buddhist technical term for the supernormal faculties attributed to the enlightened, and...

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Flawless; beyond criticism

No (无) slackness (懈) that can (可) be struck at (击). 懈 is looseness, a lapse of tension, the place where a guard has dropped — so the phrase is defensi...

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Practice makes perfect

Ouyang Xiu tells of an old oil seller who watched a celebrated archer at practice and nodded, only slightly impressed. Challenged, he set a gourd on t...

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Earth-shaking; tremendous

Startling (惊) heaven (天) and shaking (动) earth (地). The pair is the standard Chinese formula for totality — heaven and earth being everything there is...

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After hardship comes happiness

The bitter (苦) exhausted (尽) and the sweet (甘) arriving (来). Both are tastes, and the phrase treats a life as something with a flavour that changes, w...

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Thriving; flourishing

Tao Yuanming, going home for good, wrote 木欣欣以向荣，泉涓涓而始流 — the trees thriving (欣欣) as they turn toward (向) flourishing (荣), the springs beginning to tri...

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Return with rich rewards

Loaded (载) full (满) and coming home (归). The image is a boat or a cart, and the phrase covers the return leg specifically, which is where its satisfac...

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Stand out; distinguish oneself

The Lord of Pingyuan used the awl to dismiss Mao Sui: a man of ability in the world is like an awl in a bag, and its point shows at once — three years...

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Add to one's strength; become even more powerful

A tiger (虎) with wings (翼) added (添). The animal was already at the top of anything it might meet, so the addition is not making it competitive but re...

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Walk proudly; show confidence

Head (首) raised (昂) and chest (胸) pushed out (挺). The posture is the whole content, and the phrase stays neutral about whether the confidence behind i...

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Work tirelessly and diligently

孜 is diligence, and doubling it gives the unbroken kind; with 不倦, never (不) tiring (倦), the phrase adds that the effort has not decayed. The second ha...

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Work hard to improve governance

To rouse (励) the concentrated spirit (精) and plan for (图) good order (治). 精 is focused energy rather than cleverness, so the phrase describes effort a...

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Give one's all; be completely sincere

Laying open (披) the liver (肝) and letting the gall (胆) drip out (沥). The same two organs as in 肝胆相照, seat of sincerity and of nerve, but the verbs her...

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Continue until death; lifelong commitment

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 sto...

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Heavy burden and long journey ahead

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 brea...

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Endure hardships of travel; rough it

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 dr...

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Travel through hardship; overcome obstacles

Scrambling over (跋) mountains (山) and wading (涉) rivers (水). Both verbs are specific about effort — 跋 is a hard slog on foot, 涉 is going through water...

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Cross difficult terrain; overcome major obstacles

Going over (翻) mountains (山) and across (越) ridges (岭). Both halves are the same kind of obstacle, unlike 跋山涉水 which pairs land with water, so what th...

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Have victory in the bag; be certain to win

A 券 was a tally — a contract split in two so that each party held half, and holding your half was the proof of your claim. To grip (操) the winning (胜)...

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Have victory assured; be confident of winning

The winning (胜) tally (券) in (在) the hand (握). Identical in sense to 稳操胜券 and different in construction: this one puts the object first and states whe...

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Be invincible; defeat all opponents

Wherever (所) it is directed (向), everything goes flat (披靡). 披靡 is grass going down before wind, and the metaphor is precise about the kind of victory ...

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Be invincible; have no rivals

Wherever (所) it is directed (向), there is no (无) opponent (敌). The difference from 所向披靡 is worth having: that phrase describes opposition being flatte...

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Win every battle; never fail in attacks

In attacking (攻), there is nothing (无) not (不) taken (克). 克 is to overcome, and specifically to reduce a position, so the phrase concerns assaults rat...

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Win every battle; be undefeated

In battle (战), there is nothing (无) not (不) won (胜). The partner phrase to 攻无不克, and the division of labour between them is real: that one covers the ...

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Win at the very start; immediate success

The banners (旗) unfurled (开) and the victory (胜) taken (得). The picture is of an army winning its first engagement of a campaign, on the day the flags...

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Rise rapidly to high position

Walking on the level (平步) straight up into the blue (青) clouds (云). The image is of somebody climbing without the climb — the ground stays flat underf...

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Rise to fame and fortune rapidly

飞黄 is a legendary horse, and 腾达 is its rising and getting away — Han Yu uses the image in a poem urging his son to study, the fast horse going up and ...

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Rise rapidly; soar straight up

扶摇 is a whirlwind that spirals upward, and in the Zhuangzi the vast Peng bird beats along it to ninety thousand li: 抟扶摇而上者九万里. To go straight (直) up (...

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Rise quickly to high position

Straight (直) up (上) into the blue (青) clouds (云). 青云 is high office, and the difference from 平步青云 lies in which part is emphasised: that phrase notes ...

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Advance steadily; continuous promotion

Step (步) by step (步) rising (升) higher (高). The doubling of 步 is the whole distinction: every other phrase in this family describes a rise that skippe...

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Gain both fame and fortune

Reputation (名) and profit (利), both (双) collected (收). The two are treated in Chinese as the standard pair of worldly rewards and as ordinarily in ten...

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Achieve success and fame

The work (功) completed (成) and the name (名) established (就). Both halves are achievements and the order is causal: the reputation follows the accompli...

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Reach supernatural skill level

Out of (出) the spirit-like (神) and into (入) the transformative (化). Both halves name levels beyond ordinary competence, and stacking them is the devic...

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Come first; win top honors

鳌 is the giant sea-turtle of Chinese myth, and 鳌头 became the standing expression for first place in the imperial examinations. Two explanations circul...

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Be unique; have distinctive style

To plant (树) a banner (帜) of one's own (独一). 树 is the verb, to set up, and a banner in this context is what a faction or a school gathers under — so w...

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Have unique style; be distinctive

Possessing (具) a style (格) apart (别一). 格 is a frame or standard, the thing by which work of a kind is judged, so what is claimed is that the object do...

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Show great ingenuity; have original design

To have (具) a craftsman's (匠) mind (心) that nobody else has (独). 匠心 is the artisan's conception — the design as it exists before the work is made — so...

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Apply creative genius; show ingenuity

The craftsman's conception (匠心) applied (运) as nobody else would (独). The characters are those of 独具匠心 rearranged, and the difference is between havin...

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Steadfast dedication

This is advice rather than a story: hold to it (持之) with constancy (以恒). Zeng Guofan, the Qing official whose family letters became one of the most-re...

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Unwavering perseverance

A plain compound — hold firm (坚持) without slackening (不懈) — of the kind Chinese assembles freely, and it earns its keep by being the ordinary word for...

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Consistent success

The Guanzi uses it first, but the line everyone quotes is Sun Tzu's, and there it is a warning rather than a compliment: to win a hundred victories (百...

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Persevere with courage

Four characters doing exactly what they say: brave (勇), going (往), straight (直), forward (前). The phrase is built from the plainest available parts, a...

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Persevere for success

This is a modern phrase in classical dress. Rouse oneself (奋发) and work toward strength (图强) reads like something out of the classics, but it belongs ...

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Back off once the difficulty is clear; often, give up when it gets hard

The Zuo Zhuan records the Jin commanders arguing before an engagement with Chu: Chu had already made peace with Zheng, its army was in good order, and...

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Successful completion

The expression came out of Buddhist practice, where the merit (功德) accumulated through a rite — sutras chanted, offerings made, a service carried to i...

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Relentless progress

A horse (马) whose hooves (蹄) never stop (不停) — the image is a mount ridden straight through without being allowed to rest, the way couriers rode. It d...

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Selfless courage

Sima Qian's letter to Ren An looks back on what he had said at court years before in defence of Li Ling — the general who took a small force deep into...

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Persevere through challenges

To meet (迎) the difficulty (难) and go up (上) into it. It belongs to the vocabulary of official encouragement — work reports, campaign slogans, school ...

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Perseverance leads to success

The idiom 有志者事竟成 (yǒu zhì zhě shì jìng chéng) originates from the historical account of Geng Yan, a general under the Eastern Han dynasty's Emperor Gu...

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Learn from past mistakes

The full image is a cart that has gone over in the road ahead: 前车覆，后车戒 — the cart in front overturns, the cart behind takes warning. The Book of Han p...

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Persevere to completion

A plain statement of a virtue: there is (有) a beginning (始) and there is an end (终). Its weight comes instead from its opposites, which Chinese has in...

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Lead the charge

One horse (一马) out in front (当先) — the picture is a cavalry charge, with the leader's mount ahead of the line rather than safe inside it. It belongs t...

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Groundbreaking achievement

This is the creation itself: Pangu, the giant of Chinese myth, splitting the undifferentiated mass apart so that sky (天) opened (开) above and earth (地...

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Broad aspirations

Chong'er, the exiled prince of Jin, had settled comfortably in Qi and shown no further interest in leaving. The Zuo Zhuan gives the reproach to his wi...

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Substantial support

A 鼎 is a bronze ritual tripod, heavy enough that lifting one is the standard Chinese image of enormous strength; 鼎力 borrows that weight for the help b...

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Nurturing influence

This belongs to the Mencius, which counts among a teacher's modes the one who transforms a student as a timely rain does — the spring wind and the rai...

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Perseverance leads to success

The Song collection Helin Yulu tells of Zhang Guaiya, a magistrate who spotted a single copper coin from the treasury tucked under a clerk's headcloth...

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Trouble skips the prepared

The Book of Documents states it flatly: attend to your affairs, and in preparation there is no calamity — have the preparation (有备) and you are withou...

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Outstanding contributions

Abundant (丰) merit (功) and great (伟) achievement (绩). 绩 is a weaving word underneath — the twisting of hemp fibres into thread — so what the phrase me...

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Persevere through adversity

茹 is to swallow, and 辛 is pungent rather than bitter — the sharpness of ginger and pepper. So the phrase is about holding (含) something acrid in the m...

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Great aspirations

Chen Sheng, hired out as a farm labourer, told the others in the field that if any of them grew rich they should not forget the rest. They laughed at ...

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Global recognition

Lifted up (举) before the world (世), heard of (闻) by name (名). It differs from its near-neighbour 举世瞩目 in tense: 瞩目 is the world watching now, while 闻名...

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Global attention

The whole world (举世) fixes its gaze (瞩目). The construction is old — early texts speak of being under the eyes of the people of a state — and the moder...

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Accelerate progress

Whip (加鞭) applied to a horse (马) that is already fast (快). Song poets used it, and the sense has never shifted: not starting to hurry but hurrying som...

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Great toil and great service rendered

At the banquet at Hongmen, with Xiang Yu's men waiting for a signal to kill Liu Bang, Fan Kuai forced his way in and made the case aloud: this is a ma...

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Enduring good reputation

Huan Wen, who commanded the armies of Eastern Jin and considered taking the throne, is recorded speaking as he lay, then sitting abruptly up: a man un...

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A scene of vigorous activity

Dragons (龙) rising (腾) and tigers (虎) leaping (跃) — the two most powerful animals in the Chinese repertoire, both shown mid-movement. What the phrase ...

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Swift success

The horse (马) arrives (到) and the thing succeeds (功成). It belongs to Yuan drama, where a general's mount reaching the field is the moment the outcome ...

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Eternal legacy

青史 is green history, and the colour is not decorative: records were written on bamboo, and fresh green bamboo had to be roasted over fire to sweat out...

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Total commitment

Whole (全) strength (力) with which to (以) go (赴). 赴 is a verb of committed motion — going toward something, as in going to a post or answering a summon...

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Human effort can overcome nature

The classical sources have something narrower than the modern reading — that people (人) in sufficient numbers can prevail (胜) over heaven (天), meaning...

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Continuous talent emergence

Talented people (人才) emerging (出) generation after generation (辈). 辈 is the operative character: not a crowd at one moment but a succession, cohort fo...

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Bear disgrace to discharge a duty

Liu Bei invaded Wu in 221 and Lu Xun was given the command against him the following year, over veteran officers who did not disguise what they though...

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Foremost; top-ranked

Chinese counts by folding fingers down rather than raising them, and the thumb (首指) goes first. So to be the one bent (屈) first is to be counted first...

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Aim high

To carry (怀) great (大) ambition (志) in the chest (胸). Chinese consistently locates aspiration in the chest cavity rather than the head, which is why t...

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Influential leadership

One (一) call (呼) and a hundred (百) answer (应). The phrase describes a specific kind of standing: not authority, which compels, but the sort of followi...

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Unmatched bravery

三军 is the full establishment of an ancient army, its three divisions, so to crown (冠) all three with one's courage (勇) is to be the bravest man in the...

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Exceptional rarity

One (一) picked (挑) out of a hundred (百里). 里 here reads as a measure of the pool rather than a distance. The phrase is a claim about ratio and, unlike ...

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Tireless dedication

Not (不) declining (辞) the bitter (辛) labour (劳). The key character is 辞, to refuse or excuse oneself — the phrase is about what someone did not do, na...

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Achieve outstanding success

Ouyang Xiu, then the most powerful literary figure in the empire, wrote to a friend about a young examination candidate: I should get out of this man'...

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Acting single-handed, without help

A single (单) spear (枪) and one (匹) horse (马). The phrase describes a specific military image — the rider who goes forward without the formation behind...

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Profound transformation

To change (改) the heavens (天) and exchange (换) the earth (地). Unlike most of its neighbours this is a modern phrase, and it belongs to the vocabulary ...

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Radical problem-solving

The Records of the Three Kingdoms says that Guan Yu, hit by a poisoned arrow, was told the poison had reached the bone and that the arm must be opened...

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Bring family pride

To bring light (光) to the clan (宗) and make the ancestors (祖) shine (耀). The direction is what matters: achievement is not the individual's to keep bu...

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Started but never finished

Four characters that describe exactly what they name: 有 (have) 头 (head) 无 (lack) 尾 (tail). The picture is of a thing that begins and then simply stops...

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Discard allies once they are useless

Fan Li, having helped Goujian of Yue destroy Wu, left at once and wrote to his colleague Wen Zhong telling him to do the same: 飞鸟尽，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹 — when ...

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Magnificent, doomed ambition

The Classic of Mountains and Seas tells of the giant Kuafu (夸父), who set himself to race (逐) the sun (日). He caught up with it at the place where it s...

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Small amounts compound

Accumulate (积) the few (少) and it becomes (成) many (多). Dong Zhongshu argues the principle in a memorial recorded in the Book of Han, though in differ...

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May money and valuables flow in

招 means 'to beckon' and 进 'to bring in', so the phrase invites wealth and treasure into the house. An early recorded use is in the Yuan-dynasty zaju p...

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May you carry out your big ambitions

A wish for someone about to pursue big ambitions. 大展 means to unfold or display on a large scale, and 宏图 is a grand plan or vision. The word 宏图 is old...

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May your future be boundless

A wish for a long, soaring future. 鹏 is the peng, a giant mythical bird often translated 'roc', 程 is a journey, and 万里 is ten thousand li. The image c...

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May your future be bright and splendid

A wish for a bright future. 前程 is the road ahead, one's prospects, and 似锦 means 'like brocade', the richly patterned silk that stands for beauty and s...

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