📖 Meaning
Describes possessing abundant wealth and spending or handling money in sums of tens of thousands. It conveys the scale of large financial transactions or lavish expenditures. The idiom emphasizes the magnitude of money being moved about.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Yuan dynasty playwright Zheng Tingyu's play 'Ren Zi Ji' (《忍字记》), in its second act. In the original line, a character thanks a brother for taking him in and resolves to suppress his worldly desire to manage vast sums of wealth while living in seclusion in the deep mountains. The phrase later gained wider recognition through its appearance in the classical novel 'Water Margin' (《水浒传》), chapter 47, where it describes a manager entrusted with handling large daily sums of money for a wealthy household.
💡 Example Usage
他掌管着家族的生意，每日拨万论千，忙得不可开交。
He managed the family business, handling tens of thousands in daily transactions and was kept constantly busy.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 拨万论千
- Pinyin: bō wàn lùn qiān
- Literal Translation: disburse, ten thousand, count, thousand
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4