闭关锁国

bì guān suǒ guó

to shut the country off from the world

Character by character

闭bì
close

关guān
the passes

锁suǒ
lock

国guó
the country

闭关锁国只会让一个国家越来越落后。

Shutting a country off only makes it fall further behind.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Learn this in Lesson 81 · HSK 6–7: 从鸦片战争到1949 (From the Opium War to 1949)

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.