从…起步
to start out from (a small beginning)
Structure
主语 从 小的起点 起步 ， 后来的发展（越…越… ／ 如今…）
What it means
To start out from a humble beginning: names the small starting point of a business, market, career or industry, before showing how far it has come.
How it is built
Subject + 从 + small start + 起步 + comma + growth (越办越大／如今…): 这家快递公司从五辆三轮车起步，如今每天要送上千万件包裹 (it started with five tricycles; now it delivers tens of millions of parcels a day).
When to use it
The stock opening of success stories in features and reports. The start can be a thing, a role (普通工人) or a date (从2008年起步). 起步 also stands alone: 起步晚, 刚刚起步.
Watch out
Not 出发 or 起飞: 从义乌出发 is setting off from Yiwu, 从义乌起步 getting started in Yiwu, and 起飞 a take-off after the start (经济起飞).
Examples
从街边的露天摊儿起步，市场越办越大，许多义乌人做起小商品生意，勤劳致富。
Starting from open-air stalls by the roadside, the market grew and grew, and many Yiwu people went into the small-goods trade and grew rich through hard work.
这家快递公司从五辆三轮车起步，如今每天要送上千万件包裹。
This courier firm started out with five tricycles; today it delivers tens of millions of parcels a day.
他从车间里的普通工人起步，二十年后当上了厂长。
He started out as an ordinary worker on the shop floor, and twenty years later he was running the factory.
Learn this in Lesson 184 · HSK 7–9: 义乌 (Yiwu, the world’s supermarket)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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