返璞归真
fǎn pú guī zhēn
to return to simplicity and one’s true nature
Character by character
返fǎn
return
return
璞pú
uncut jade
uncut jade
归guī
go back
go back
真zhēn
true
true
Example
在城里忙了半辈子，他退休后回到山村种菜养鸡，说是要返璞归真。
After half a lifetime of rushing about in the city, he retired to a mountain village to grow vegetables and keep chickens, saying he wanted to get back to basics.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
璞 is jade still in the rough. The idea comes from 《战国策·齐策四》: the scholar 颜斶 turns down the honours offered by King Xuan of Qi and goes home, and the text sums up his choice as 归真反璞, “returning to the true and the uncut”. Used of a way of life, a design or a style of art: 返璞归真的生活, 设计风格返璞归真.
Learn this in Lesson 144 · HSK 7–9: 露营热 (The outdoor boom)
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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