📖 Meaning
This idiom euphemistically refers to the death of an emperor. It alludes to the legend of the Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven on a dragon, leaving behind his bow at a place thereafter called Dinghu (Lake of the Ding). It is used as a dignified circumlocution for imperial demise.
📜 Origin Story
According to the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) mined copper from Mount Shou and cast a bronze ding (cauldron) at the foot of Mount Jing. When the ding was finished, a dragon descended with its whiskers trailing, coming to escort Huangdi to heaven. Huangdi mounted the dragon, and over seventy ministers and consorts followed him. The lesser officials who could not board grabbed the dragon's whiskers; the whiskers broke and fell, and so did Huangdi's bow. The common people gazed upward, then clutched the bow and whiskers and wailed. Because of this, the place was named Dinghu, and the phrase 'the dragon departed to Dinghu' came to signify an emperor's death.
💡 Example Usage
先帝龙去鼎湖，举国哀恸。
The late emperor passed away, and the entire nation mourned in grief.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 龙去鼎湖
- Pinyin: lóng qù dǐng hú
- Literal Translation: dragon, departs, ding, lake
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4