铜墙铁壁
tóng qiáng tiě bì
walls of bronze and iron; an impregnable defence
Character by character
铜tóng
copper
copper
墙qiáng
wall
wall
铁tiě
iron
iron
壁bì
rampart
rampart
Example
这支球队的后防线像铜墙铁壁一样，整个赛季只丢了五个球。
The team’s back line was like a wall of iron: it let in only five goals all season.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
Said of a defence nothing can break: an army, a city, a dike, a football defence. Usual verbs: 筑起、筑成 or 像…一样. In 1934 Mao Zedong used it to say that the real wall of iron is the people themselves, and the image has stayed in Chinese political language.
Learn this in Lesson 171 · HSK 7–9: 1998年的洪水 (The floods of 1998)
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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