📖 Meaning
Describes a defense built of multiple layers of 'golden-walled cities and boiling-moat moats', i.e., an utterly impregnable fortress. Figuratively, it refers to defenses or safeguards so firm that they are nearly impossible to breach.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from Sima Guang's commentary '评项羽诛韩生' (Commentary on Xiang Yu Executing Han Sheng), written in the Northern Song Dynasty. Sima Guang cites Xiang Yu, who alienated loyal advisors and suspected his own meritorious men, and argues that if a ruler behaves this way, then even with 'repeated golden walls and overlapping boiling moats' — the strongest conceivable defenses — he could not hold his state for a single day. The phrase thus contrasts physical fortifications with the true foundation of rule: retaining loyal and capable ministers. It is an extension of the classical idiom 金城汤池.
💡 Example Usage
此城防御重金袭汤，敌军围攻经年竟不能破。
This city's defenses are layered like golden walls and boiling moats — after years of siege, the enemy still could not break it.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 重金袭汤
- Pinyin: chóng jīn xí tāng
- Literal Translation: repeated, gold, overlapping, boiling
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4