📖 Meaning
To quote a price with no upper limit, asking an absurdly high and unreasonable amount. It describes someone demanding an exorbitant sum, typically as an opening move in bargaining, with the expectation that the buyer will negotiate it down.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from 《城隍庙的书市》(The Book Market at the City God Temple), an essay by the modern Chinese writer 阿英 (A Ying, pen name of Qian Xingcun), written during the Republic of China era. He observed that booksellers at the Shanghai City God Temple market set unreliable, sky-high prices that could not be taken at face value. He noted that when a seller '漫天开价' (quotes an exorbitant price), the buyer must counter with a low offer (就地还钱) and slowly haggle over the final figure. Unlike most idioms from ancient dynasties, this one has a modern literary origin, capturing the bargaining culture of 1930s Shanghai's secondhand book market.
💡 Example Usage
这个商贩漫天开价，我们得好好还价才行。
This vendor quotes a sky-high price, so we have to bargain hard.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 漫天开价
- Pinyin: màn tiān kāi jià
- Literal Translation: covering the sky, open a price
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4