📖 Meaning
This idiom refers to an extremely large number of names, categories, or designations. It describes a situation where items or specifications proliferate so greatly that they seem endless and impossible to enumerate. It is typically used to convey a sense of overwhelming variety or excessive complexity.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the History of the Southern Dynasties (《南史》), specifically the annals of the Southern Qi dynasty's reign of Emperor Feidi Donghunhou (废帝东昏侯, Xiao Baojuan). The notoriously extravagant emperor ordered luxurious garments and ornaments such as pheasant-head decorations, crane-feather cloaks, and egret-plume edgings to be devised. The original text reads that these items came in 'hundreds of kinds and thousands of items, with no end to them' (百品千条，无复穷已). The phrase was thus coined to describe the ruler's ceaseless, ever-multiplying demands.
💡 Example Usage
如今市面上的商品百品千条，挑选起来让人眼花缭乱。
The goods on the market today come in countless varieties, making it dazzling and confusing to choose.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 百品千条
- Pinyin: bǎi pǐn qiān tiáo
- Literal Translation: hundred, kind, thousand, item
- Category: Variety
- Characters: 4