📖 Meaning
Describes wild, hysterical wailing and crying in extreme grief or anguish, as if beating the heavens and collapsing to the earth. It portrays someone so overcome with sorrow that they cry out uncontrollably and thrash about on the ground.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from the Ming dynasty short story collection 'Erke Pai'an Jingqi' (Slapping the Table in Amazement, Second Collection) by Ling Mengchu (1580-1644), a renowned late-Ming author of vernacular fiction. In Volume 15, there is a scene where the old Jiang couple and their daughter cry out in helpless distress like slaughtered pigs, described vividly as 'wailing as if striking the heavens and falling to the earth' (擂天倒地价哭). The image captures the raw, physical desperation of people driven to extremes by misfortune or injustice.
💡 Example Usage
听闻噩耗，老妇人擂天倒地地痛哭不止，旁人怎么劝都劝不住。
Upon hearing the dreadful news, the old woman wailed uncontrollably, thrashing on the ground as if striking the heavens, and no one could console her.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 擂天倒地
- Pinyin: léi tiān dǎo dì
- Literal Translation: strike-heaven, fall-ground
- Category: Emotion
- Characters: 4