📖 Meaning
To treat others with a generous and forgiving heart. It describes someone who is lenient and magnanimous when dealing with people who have made mistakes or caused offense, choosing tolerance over punishment.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in Feng Yuxiang's memoir 'The Chiang Kai-shek I Knew' (《我所认识的蒋介石》), Chapter 71, where he advises that one should be magnanimous and not go too far in punishing others. The phrase encapsulates a traditional Chinese virtue of clemency and broad-mindedness that has roots in Confucian ethics. Feng Yuxiang, a prominent Republic-era warlord and military leader, invoked this principle when discussing how to handle political adversaries.
💡 Example Usage
既然他已经认错，我们就宽大为怀，不再追究了。
Since he has admitted his mistake, we will be generous and let the matter drop.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 宽大为怀
- Pinyin: kuān dà wéi huái
- Literal Translation: broad, great, as, heart
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4