百闻不如一见
bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn
seeing once beats hearing a hundred times
Character by character
百bǎi
hundred
hundred
闻wén
hear
hear
不bù
not
not
如rú
equal
equal
一yī
one
one
见jiàn
see
see
Example
百闻不如一见,桂林的山水真是太美了。
Seeing is believing — Guilin’s scenery really is stunning.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
From 《汉书》: the old general Zhao Chongguo insisted on going to the frontier to see for himself.
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