📖 Meaning
Describes literary works, music, or singing as richly modulated with many twists and turns. Also describes a course of events or a journey that is winding, tortuous, and far from smooth.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from a letter by the Qing dynasty scholar and painter Zheng Xie (Zheng Banqiao), written from Weixian county to his younger brother. In the letter, Zheng praised the prose essays of Bai Chuan, noting their refined and profound quality—how they drew out the essence of ideas, depicted the states of things, and portrayed human feelings. He described the writing as 'qiān huí bǎi zhé'—full of a thousand turns and a hundred folds—yet ultimately arriving at clarity and simplicity.
💡 Example Usage
这部小说情节千回百折，引人入胜，让人读后久久难忘。
The novel's plot is full of twists and turns, so gripping that it lingers in the reader's mind long after.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 千回百折
- Pinyin: qiān huí bǎi zhé
- Literal Translation: thousand, turn, hundred, fold
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4