📖 Meaning
Refers to the entire world, all lands within the four seas. It emphasizes the totality of territory under heaven, originally conveying that all land and people fall under one sovereign's domain.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase originates from the Classic of Poetry (Shijing), specifically the poem 'North Mountain' (北山) in the Minor Odes section, dating to the Western Zhou dynasty. The original lines read: 'Under the vast heaven, all is the king's land; within the shores of all earth, all are the king's subjects.' These lines express the ancient Chinese concept of universal sovereignty, where the entire world falls under the ruler's domain. Over centuries, '溥天率土' was extracted as a four-character idiom meaning the whole world.
💡 Example Usage
溥天率土，皆沐皇恩，万民同庆太平盛世。
Across all the lands under heaven, everyone basked in imperial grace, and the people jointly celebrated an era of peace and prosperity.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 溥天率土
- Pinyin: pǔ tiān lǜ tǔ
- Literal Translation: vast heaven, all earth
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4