📖 Meaning
A metaphor describing a scene of widespread suffering where victims of famine, war, or natural disasters are everywhere — displaced, starving, and crying out in misery. It evokes the image of countless suffering people scattered across the land like wailing wild geese.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Lesser Odes' (小雅) section of the 'Classic of Poetry' (《诗经》), China's oldest collection of poetry compiled during the Zhou Dynasty. The poem 'Wild Geese' (《鸿雁》) contains the line 'The wild geese fly, their mournful cries are loud' (鸿雁于飞，哀鸣嗷嗷). The wailing of migrating geese, separated from their flock and lost, became a powerful metaphor for the cries of displaced and starving common people during times of chaos. Later generations condensed this imagery into the set phrase '哀鸿遍地' to describe scenes of mass suffering.
💡 Example Usage
战乱之后，哀鸿遍地，百姓流离失所。
After the war, the land was filled with suffering victims, and the common people were displaced and homeless.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 哀鸿遍地
- Pinyin: āi hóng biàn dì
- Literal Translation: sorrowful, swan goose, everywhere, ground
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4