📖 Meaning
Describes a place where the land area is large but the population is very small. It conveys a sense of emptiness, remoteness, or underdevelopment due to the low population density.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Treatise on Geography, Part Two' (地理志下) in the Book of Han (汉书), a monumental history of the Western Han dynasty compiled by Ban Gu. The text notes that in certain remote regions, local customs differed greatly from the Central Plains, and the land was vast yet sparsely populated. This phrase later evolved into the set idiom '地广人稀', used to describe any thinly populated expanse.
💡 Example Usage
这片草原地广人稀，走上半天也见不到一户人家。
This grassland is vast and sparsely populated — you can walk for half a day without seeing a single household.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 地广人稀
- Pinyin: dì guǎng rén xī
- Literal Translation: land, vast, people, sparse
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4