📖 Meaning
A street or district where brothels are concentrated; the red-light district. The phrase uses flowers and willows as euphemistic imagery for pleasure quarters. It refers to places of entertainment and vice in old cities.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from a Yuan dynasty sanqu (散曲) poem by Li Bangyou (李邦祐), titled 'Zhuandiao Taojinling - Siqing' (《转调淘金令·思情》). In the poem, the speaker laments a lover who frequents the pleasure quarters, writing of 'flower streets and willow paths' and 'Qin towers and Xie halls' — all euphemisms for brothels and entertainment houses. The imagery of flowers and willows was a classical convention for describing districts of courtesans and revelry. Over time the phrase became a fixed idiom denoting the red-light districts of traditional Chinese cities.
💡 Example Usage
他年少时终日流连花衢柳陌，荒废了大好前程。
In his youth he whiled away his days in the pleasure quarters, squandering his promising future.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 花衢柳陌
- Pinyin: huā qú liǔ mò
- Literal Translation: flower, street, willow, path
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4