📖 Meaning
Literally 'front streets and back alleys,' this idiom refers to all the streets and lanes throughout a town or city. It is commonly used to describe searching or inquiring everywhere, leaving no corner unexplored.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in 'Sanguo Zhi Pinghua' (Tales of the Records of the Three Kingdoms), a Yuan dynasty popular narrative. In the story, the warlord Dong Zhuo, upon hearing a loud outcry within the city, hastily mobilized thousands of troops and had them seal off every front street and back alley, forming a tight net of soldiers. The idiom later gained wider use through Ming dynasty vernacular novels such as Shi Nai'an's 'Water Margin,' where Lin Chong searches through every street and alley seeking revenge.
💡 Example Usage
他在前街后巷寻找了三天，终于找到了失散多年的亲人。
After searching through every street and alley for three days, he finally found his long-lost relative.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 前街后巷
- Pinyin: qián jiē hòu xiàng
- Literal Translation: front, street, back, alley
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4