📖 Meaning
Literally meaning blood vessels are connected to one another. It is used metaphorically to describe a close, inseparable relationship between people or things. The idiom conveys a sense of deep interconnection and mutual dependence.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in the writings of Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. In his essay 'The Victory of Bolshevism' written during the early 20th century, he described how human life is interconnected within a great mechanism, with everything being closely related and connected like blood vessels. The expression draws on the biological imagery of veins and arteries linking the body to illustrate social and political solidarity.
💡 Example Usage
这两座城市的经济脉脉相通，繁荣与衰退总是同步发生。
The economies of the two cities are so closely connected that their prosperity and decline always occur in tandem.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 脉脉相通
- Pinyin: mài mài xiāng tōng
- Literal Translation: blood vessel, blood vessel, mutually, connect
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4