📖 Meaning
A metaphor for pursuing personal glory or profit at the cost of countless others' lives and sacrifices. It condemns the moral emptiness of victories built on mass suffering, where one person's success means the ruin of many.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom condenses a line from the Tang dynasty poet Cao Song's poem 'Jihai Year' (《己亥岁》). The original verse reads: 'Speak not of noble titles and fiefs before me — a single general's glory is built on ten thousand bleached bones' (凭君莫话封侯事，一将功成万骨枯). Cao Song wrote this during the tumultuous late Tang period, when warlords vied for power and ordinary soldiers and civilians perished in endless military campaigns. The poem was a bitter anti-war statement aimed at the warlord Gao Pian, who suppressed the Huang Chao rebellion with immense bloodshed. Over time, the eight-character line was condensed into the four-character idiom '功成骨枯' to concisely evoke the same critique of ambition purchased with human lives.
💡 Example Usage
功成骨枯的帝王霸业，从来都是百姓的灾难。
Imperial conquests built on withered bones have always been a catastrophe for the common people.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 功成骨枯
- Pinyin: gōng chéng gǔ kū
- Literal Translation: achievement, accomplished, bones, withered
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4