📖 Meaning
Learning is compared to climbing a mountain, requiring sustained effort and gradual upward progress. One must persevere step by step, overcoming difficulties to reach higher levels of knowledge and mastery.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Three Kingdoms period scholar Xu Gan (徐干) in his work 'Zhong Lun' (中论, 'Balanced Discourses'), specifically the chapter 'On Governance and Learning' (治学). Xu Gan wrote that just as one only recognizes the crudeness of earthenware after hearing the grand Huangzhong bell, or the shabbiness of coarse cloth after seeing the patterns on imperial dragon robes, so too does one realize the hardship of ignorance only after experiencing formal education. He concluded that the student is like one climbing a mountain — with every step, one rises higher.
💡 Example Usage
学如登山，唯有坚持不懈才能到达顶峰。
Learning is like climbing a mountain — only by persevering without giving up can one reach the summit.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 学如登山
- Pinyin: xuá rú dēng shān
- Literal Translation: study, like, climb, mountain
- Category: Learning
- Characters: 4