📖 Meaning
To beat one's chest and silently swallow one's tears, weeping so bitterly that one seems to weep blood. It describes a state of extreme, unbearable grief and anguish. The idiom conveys profound sorrow that one can neither cry out nor relieve.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase is recorded in the modern Chinese historical source collection 'The 1911 Revolution: The Qing Court's Preparations for Constitutionalism' (《辛亥革命·清廷预备立宪》). In a memorial to the throne, Qing officials report that their original proposals had all been declared null and void. They write that upon receiving the imperial command, they could not help but beat their chests and swallow their tears. The words express the officials' despair over the collapse of their hopes for reform in the final years of the Qing dynasty.
💡 Example Usage
得知故乡沦陷的消息，老兵椎心饮泣，久久说不出话来。
Upon hearing that his hometown had fallen, the old soldier beat his chest and swallowed his tears, unable to speak for a long time.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 椎心饮泣
- Pinyin: chuí xīn yǐn qì
- Literal Translation: beat, heart, swallow, weep
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4