📖 Meaning
Literally means meticulous and careful cultivation of land in agriculture. By extension, it describes doing any work with great attention to detail and thorough effort rather than taking a careless or superficial approach.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase comes from a 1957 speech by Mao Zedong titled 'Be a Revolutionary Promoter' (做革命的促进派), in which he stated that China relies on intensive farming to feed its large population. The concept reflects the traditional Chinese agricultural practice of investing labor and care into each plot of land to maximize yield, given the country's limited arable land relative to population. Over time, the expression broadened beyond farming to describe any endeavor carried out with painstaking thoroughness.
💡 Example Usage
这块地经过精耕细作，今年的收成比去年好了许多。
After careful and meticulous cultivation, this plot of land yielded much more this year than last.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 精耕细作
- Pinyin: jīng gēng xì zuò
- Literal Translation: refined, plow, fine, work
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4