别开生面
bié kāi shēng miàn
to break new ground; refreshingly original
Character by character
别bié
another
another
开kāi
open
open
生shēng
new
new
面miàn
face
face
Example
学校今年的毕业典礼别开生面，校长穿着球衣上台讲话。
This year’s graduation ceremony was something quite new: the head gave the speech in a football shirt.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
From 杜甫’s poem 《丹青引》, which praises the painter 曹霸 for giving faded portraits of old heroes a fresh face (开生面). Mostly describes events and forms: 别开生面的晚会, 别开生面的比赛. Not used of people.
Learn this in Lesson 64 · HSK 6: 村超与体育经济 (Village leagues and the business of sport)
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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