📖 Meaning
Literally meaning "great wind and great waves," this idiom refers to enormous storms at sea, used metaphorically for major social upheaval and transformation, or for sharp, complex, intense, and arduous struggles. It conveys times of testing and hardship that people must face and overcome, and is often applied to someone who has weathered many trials in life.
📜 Origin Story
Unlike most chengyu, this expression does not trace to an ancient classic or dynasty story but to the historical novel "Mother and Son as Sovereign and Subject" (《母子君臣》) by Gao Yang (高阳, pen name of Xu Yanbian, 1922–1992), a celebrated modern Chinese historical novelist. The novel dramatizes the late Qing dynasty court under Empress Dowager Cixi, and the cited line describes a woman who, having endured countless great storms in her life, knows that troubles which cannot be avoided must simply be met with her head held high. The metaphorical use of "great wind and great waves" for social upheaval and struggle then spread widely in modern Chinese.
💡 Example Usage
经历过无数大风大浪的人，往往更懂得珍惜平静的生活。
People who have been through countless great storms and waves tend to treasure a peaceful life all the more.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 大风大浪
- Pinyin: dà fēng dà làng
- Literal Translation: big wind, big wave
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4