📖 Meaning
To divide labor and cooperate, with each person taking responsibility for a specific part of the work while contributing to a common goal. It emphasizes efficiency through specialization and teamwork.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in Shen Congwen's prose 'Boats of Changde' (《常德的船》), where he describes how some family members would stay in the county town to run small businesses requiring no capital, dividing tasks among themselves so that no one remained idle. Shen Congwen (1902–1988) was a prominent modern Chinese writer from Hunan. The expression reflects a practical, modern approach to collective work rather than stemming from classical antiquity.
💡 Example Usage
这个项目需要大家分工合作才能按时完成。
This project requires everyone to divide the labor and cooperate to finish on time.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 分工合作
- Pinyin: fēn gōng hé zuò
- Literal Translation: divide, work, together, do
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4