📖 Meaning
Refers to the most precious and valuable period in a person's life, or the most prosperous era of a nation's politics, economy, and culture. It uses the metaphor of gold—the most treasured metal—to signify a peak time of vitality, achievement, or flourishing development.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from Xie Juezai (谢觉哉), a Chinese revolutionary and politician, in his essay 'How Young People Should Train Themselves' (《青年人怎样锻炼自己》). He wrote that the period from fifteen to thirty years old constitutes the golden age of a person's life. The expression draws on the longstanding metaphor of gold as the most precious metal to describe an invaluable span of youth or a civilization's peak prosperity. Though popularized in modern Chinese by Xie's writing, the underlying idea of a 'golden age' echoes classical Western and Chinese notions of an idealized prime era.
💡 Example Usage
唐朝是中国诗歌发展的黄金时代。
The Tang Dynasty was the golden age of Chinese poetry.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 黄金时代
- Pinyin: huáng jīn shí dài
- Literal Translation: gold, time, era
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4