歌舞升平

gē wǔ shēng píng

singing and dancing in a time of peace

Character by character

歌gē
song

舞wǔ
dance

升shēng
rising

平píng
peace

城里歌舞升平，谁也没想到战争就要来了。

The city was all song and dance, and nobody imagined that war was coming.

Tone: neutral.

Often ironic: celebrating while trouble brews.

Learn this in Lesson 77 · HSK 6–7: 丝绸之路与唐朝 (The Silk Road and the Tang)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.