📖 Meaning
Describes a location that is situated beside mountains and close to rivers or lakes. It often conveys a sense of scenic beauty and favorable geographical placement, ideal for settlement or strategic positioning. The idiom evokes a harmonious blend of natural landscape features.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from a memorial to the throne by Ye Shi, a scholar-official of the Southern Song dynasty, titled 'A Petition on Settling the Two Huai Regions.' In it, he records that nearly two hundred thousand households fled across the Yangtze River seeking refuge, while another two hundred thousand households gathered together in defensible communities, relying on mountains and rivers for protection and self-sufficiency. The phrase later became a literary standard for describing scenic, well-situated locales. It also appears in the Ming dynasty historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where a strategist advises setting up camp in a location backed by mountains and fronting water.
💡 Example Usage
这座别墅依山傍水，环境十分优美。
This villa is nestled beside the mountains and near the water, with a truly beautiful environment.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 依山傍水
- Pinyin: yī shān bàng shuǐ
- Literal Translation: rely on, mountain, near, water
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4