📖 Meaning
Describes living a life of austere hardship while preserving one's moral purity and integrity. It connotes enduring physical privation without compromising one's honesty, often used to praise incorruptible officials who live frugally.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from a Tang dynasty poem by Bai Juyi titled 'Three Years as Commissioner' (《三年为刺史》). In its second part, Bai Juyi writes that during his three years as a commissioner he drank ice water and ate bitter cork bark, living in extreme austerity. He notes taking only two pieces of stone from Tianzhu Mountain, then questions whether even this trivial act might blemish his clean conscience, since those stones could be worth a fortune. The line '饮冰复食檗' later evolved into the idiom 饮冰食蘖, symbolizing a life of frugal integrity and uncorrupted public service.
💡 Example Usage
他为官数十载，饮冰食蘖，始终清廉自守。
Over decades in office he endured a life of austere privation, yet remained steadfastly honest and self-disciplined.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
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🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 饮冰食蘖
- Pinyin: yǐn bīng shí bò
- Literal Translation: drink ice, eat bitter cork bark
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4