📖 Meaning
A phrase referring to ordinary common people, especially rural and small-town folk. 里 (lǐ) means a neighborhood lane or alley. It evokes the plain, uneducated populace rather than the educated elite.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from a preface by the Ming dynasty writer Yuan Hongdao to 'Popular Romance of the Eastern and Western Han' (东西汉通俗演义序). Yuan observed that stories of the Han dynasty had spread so widely that everyone in the empire knew them. He wrote that from officials down to the village men and neighborhood women, from seventy-year-old elders to three-foot-tall children, all could recount in full detail how Liu Bang rose up at Fengpei, how Xiang Yu refused to cross the Wu River, how Wang Mang usurped the throne, and how Emperor Guangwu restored the Han. The idiom thus arose as a byword for the common people who, despite lacking learning, eagerly consumed popular historical tales.
💡 Example Usage
这部史书把刘季起丰沛的故事讲得连村哥里妇都能听懂。
This history book tells the story of Liu Bang's rise at Fengpei so plainly that even the village folk can understand it.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 村哥里妇
- Pinyin: cūn gē lǐ fù
- Literal Translation: village, brother, neighborhood, woman
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4