📖 Meaning
An attitude that regards promotion in officialdom as an honor and demotion as a humiliation. It reflects the traditional scholar-official mentality where one's entire sense of self-worth is tied to the rise and fall of one's bureaucratic rank.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no attested single source text, but it crystallizes a pervasive value system in imperial China's civil service culture. Under the Confucian examination system, scholarly officials measured their life's success almost exclusively by rank and title. A promotion brought honor to the entire clan, while a demotion was seen as a deep personal and familial shame. This mindset persisted through successive dynasties from the Han to the Qing, shaping the psychology of countless literati who dedicated their lives to the precarious ladder of official advancement.
💡 Example Usage
进荣退辱的观念让多少士人一生困于宦海沉浮。
The mentality of regarding promotion as glory and demotion as disgrace trapped countless scholars in the turbulent sea of officialdom for their entire lives.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 进荣退辱
- Pinyin: jìn róng tuì rǔ
- Literal Translation: advance, glory, retreat, disgrace
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4