📖 Meaning
To treat others with complete sincerity and trust, holding nothing back. It describes opening one's heart fully to another person as if placing it directly into their chest. This idiom conveys the deepest level of genuine, candid interaction between people.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the 'Book of the Later Han' (《后汉书》), in the biography of Emperor Guangwu (光武帝). When Liu Xiu was still the Prince of Xiao, he had just defeated the Tongma rebel army and faced the challenge of winning over the surrendered troops. Rather than keeping them at a distance, he personally visited their camps unarmed and without guards, showing absolute trust in their loyalty. The surrendered soldiers were so moved by his sincerity that they declared, 'The Prince of Xiao pushes his red heart into our bellies — how could we not die for him?' (萧王推赤心置人腹中，安得不投死！). This act of placing his heart, figuratively, into the bellies of former enemies became the enduring metaphor for treating others with unreserved sincerity.
💡 Example Usage
他们推心置腹地谈了一整夜，多年的隔阂终于烟消云散。
They talked heart-to-heart all night long, and years of estrangement finally melted away.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 推心置腹
- Pinyin: tuī xīn zhì fù
- Literal Translation: push, heart, place, abdomen
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4