人情冷暖

rén qíng lěng nuǎn

how fickle people are: warm when you are up, cold when you are down

Character by character

人rén
human

情qíng
feeling

冷lěng
cold

暖nuǎn
warm

公司破产以后，他才真正体会到了人情冷暖。

Only after his company went bankrupt did he truly learn how fickle people can be.

Tone: neutral.

Usually after 体会到, 看透 or 尝尽. Close to 世态炎凉; both are said ruefully, from experience.

Learn this in Lesson 221 · HSK 9+: 老舍的《茶馆》 (Lao She’s Teahouse and the Beijing voice)

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.