今非昔比

jīn fēi xī bǐ

nothing like it used to be

Character by character

今jīn
today

非fēi
not

昔xī
past

比bǐ
compare

三十年过去了，这座小县城早已今非昔比。

Thirty years on, the little county town is unrecognisable.

Tone: neutral.

Usually means things are far better now, but can describe a fall too: 他的地位今非昔比. 昔 is a written word for “the past”.

Learn this in Lesson 84 · HSK 6–7: 九十年代 (The 1990s)

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.