📖 Meaning
To deliver charcoal during snowy weather; a metaphor for providing timely help to someone in urgent need, whether material or emotional. It emphasizes the value of assistance given precisely when it is most needed, like warmth and fuel during a bitter winter.
📜 Origin Story
The expression derives from the Song Dynasty, when Emperor Taizong (宋太宗 Zhao Kuangyi) is said to have ordered charcoal distributed to the poor during an exceptionally severe winter storm in the capital. The act of delivering fuel when people were freezing gave rise to the phrase, which was later fixed in the idiom 雪中送炭 and its variant 雪里送炭. Over the centuries it came to symbolize any form of timely, compassionate aid extended at a critical moment.
💡 Example Usage
我正为交不起房租发愁，朋友雪里送炭借给我一笔钱。
Just as I was worrying about not being able to pay rent, a friend lent me a sum of money — sending charcoal in the snow.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 雪里送炭
- Pinyin: xuě lǐ sòng tàn
- Literal Translation: snow, inside, send, charcoal
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4