披荆斩棘
pī jīng zhǎn jí
to hack through thorns and brambles; to overcome every obstacle as a pioneer
Character by character
披pī
split
split
荆jīng
thorns
thorns
斩zhǎn
cut
cut
棘jí
brambles
brambles
Example
第一代创业者披荆斩棘，才有了今天这家大公司。
The first generation of founders hacked their way through every obstacle; that is how this big company came to be.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
From the History of the Later Han: the founding emperor praised his general 冯异 for having ‘cut through the thorns’ for him. Used of pioneers on a hard road: 一路披荆斩棘, 披荆斩棘的开拓者.
Learn this in Lesson 158 · HSK 7–9: 青蒿素 (Artemisinin: from an old recipe to a Nobel Prize)
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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