📖 Meaning
A metaphor for the twilight years of life, when one is advancing into old age. The image evokes the setting sun descending behind mulberry and elm trees, symbolizing the later stage of a person's life.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom draws on the classical imagery of sangyu (mulberry and elm trees), which in Chinese literature represents the evening or twilight of the day and, by extension, the later years of a person's life. The metaphor originates from the Eastern Han dynasty text Book of Later Han (后汉书), where the phrase 'lost at dawn in the east, recovered at dusk among the mulberry and elm' (失之东隅，收之桑榆) first established sangyu as a symbol for life's later years. Jingrusangyu specifically describes the sunlight entering the mulberry and elm trees, painting a picture of the sun's descent and thus evoking the sense of advancing age.
💡 Example Usage
他虽已景入桑榆，但精神矍铄，仍坚持每日写作。
Though already in the twilight years of his life, he remains hale and spirited, still writing every day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 景入桑榆
- Pinyin: jǐng rù sāng yú
- Literal Translation: sunlight, enters, mulberry, elm trees
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4