📖 Meaning
Broken and incomplete bi and zhang jade pieces. Metaphorically describes something that, though damaged or fragmentary, retains great value and is still treasured — like precious heirlooms or rare remnants of the past that cannot be replaced.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from a poem by Sun Di (孙觌) of the Song Dynasty, titled 'Li Maojia Sends Tea' (《李茂嘉寄茶》). In the poem, Sun Di describes receiving exotic tea as a gift from a friend, wrapped in crimson silk gauze. He compares the tea leaves to 'broken bi and incomplete zhang jade' — fragments that, though no longer whole, are still exceedingly precious. The phrase captures the Song literati sensibility of treasuring imperfect, aged, or remnant objects as carriers of history and refined taste.
💡 Example Usage
这件断壁残璋的古玉器仍价值连城。
This ancient jade artifact, broken and incomplete as it is, remains priceless.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 断壁残璋
- Pinyin: duàn bì cán zhāng
- Literal Translation: broken, bi-jade-disc, incomplete, zhang-jade-tablet
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4