📖 Meaning
A metaphor describing a dire situation that is on the verge of total collapse. It conveys the sense that a powerful entity—be it a state, institution, or enterprise—is crumbling and cannot be saved by a single remedy or individual. The idiom emphasizes urgency and the gravity of impending ruin.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Sui Dynasty work 'Zhongshuo' (《中说》) by the Confucian scholar Wang Tong, also known as Wenzhongzi (文中子). In the chapter 'Shi Jun' (《事君》), Wang Tong turned to his disciple Dong Chang and remarked, 'A great mansion about to collapse cannot be propped up by a single pole of wood' (大厦将颠，非一木所支也). His words were a lament that a dynasty in terminal decline could not be rescued by one loyal minister alone, no matter how devoted. The phrase later became a fixed idiom used to describe any large-scale system or institution teetering on the brink of disaster.
💡 Example Usage
大厦将颠之际，唯有团结一心方能扭转乾坤。
At the moment when the great edifice is about to collapse, only by uniting as one can the tide be turned.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 大厦将颠
- Pinyin: dà shà jiāng diān
- Literal Translation: great mansion, about to, topple
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4