不到長城非好漢
Chinese
to not yet reach; to not yet arrive at; to not arrive to not yet reach; to not yet arrive at; to not arrive; to not show up | long wall; Great Wall of China; Changcheng | (be) not; wrong; blame (be) not; wrong; blame; Africa | brave man; true man; hero brave man; true man; hero; outlaw | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
trad. (不到長城非好漢) | 不到 | 長城 | 非 | 好漢 | |
simp. (不到长城非好汉) | 不到 | 长城 | 非 | 好汉 | |
Literally: “One who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a true man”. |
Etymology
From Mao Zedong's 1935 verse:
- 天高雲淡,望斷南飛雁。不到長城非好漢,屈指行程二萬。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
- From: 1935, Mao Zedong, 《清平樂·六盤山》
- Tiāngāoyúndàn, wàng duàn nán fēi yàn. Bùdào Chángchéng fēi hǎohàn, qūzhǐ xíngchéng èr wàn. [Pinyin]
- The heavens are high, the clouds are pale,
We watch as the wild geese disappear southwards.
If we fail to reach the Great wall we are not true men,
We who have marched more than 20,000 li.
天高云淡,望断南飞雁。不到长城非好汉,屈指行程二万。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
Pronunciation
Idiom
不到長城非好漢
- (figuratively) One should not give up until one succeeds.
Descendants
Sino-Xenic (不到長城非好漢):
- → Vietnamese: bất đáo Trường Thành phi hảo hán (不到長城非好漢)