休养生息
xiū yǎng shēng xī
to rest and recover; to give a people, land or ecosystem time to rebuild
Character by character
休xiū
rest
rest
养yǎng
nourish
nourish
生shēng
grow
grow
息xī
multiply
multiply
Example
这块地连着种了好几年玉米，今年打算让它休养生息，先不种了。
This field has grown maize several years running, so this year we plan to give it a rest and leave it unplanted.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
Lesson 4-13 met it as the early Han policy of letting the people recover after war: light taxes and few demands. Today it is just as often used of land, forests, grasslands and rivers; 让长江休养生息 is how officials and the press describe the fishing ban. 息 here means to grow or multiply, as in 利息 (interest, what money breeds), not to breathe.
Learn this in Lesson 167 · HSK 7–9: 长江十年禁渔 (Ten years without fishing on the Yangtze)
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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