📖 Meaning
Literally 'white is white, red is red,' this idiom describes flowers and trees of many different kinds and colors standing together in rich variety. It conveys a scene of abundant, colorful vegetation where each plant shows its own distinct hue.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from Tang dynasty poet Han Yu's poem 'Feeling Spring, Three Poems' (感春三首), which contains the line '晨游百花林，朱朱兼白白' ('I stroll in the forest of a hundred flowers at dawn, where vermilion mingles with white'). Later poets such as Yang Wanli of the Song dynasty reused the expression, cementing it as a set phrase. Over time, the reduplicated colors became a stock literary image for the colorful spectacle of spring flowers.
💡 Example Usage
春天一到，园中白白朱朱，煞是好看。
Once spring arrives, the garden is full of flowers in all shades of white and red — a truly lovely sight.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 白白朱朱
- Pinyin: bái bái zhū zhū
- Literal Translation: white, white, vermilion, vermilion
- Category: Variety
- Characters: 4