📖 Meaning
A poetic description of a strikingly beautiful woman, emphasizing her rosy red lips and fair, lustrous complexion like polished jade. The idiom is used in classical literature to evoke the image of feminine beauty in its most refined and idealized form.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom first appears in the poem 'Miscellaneous Songs' (《杂曲》) by Jiang Zong (江总), a poet and official of the Chen dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, who later served the Sui dynasty. The line reads: 'The precious hairpins and kingfisher temple ornaments are still the same, but the vermilion-lipped, jade-faced beauties are not of a single rank' (宝钗翠鬓还相似，朱唇玉面非一行). Jiang Zong was known for his ornate palace-style poetry, and this phrase captures the lavish aesthetic of courtly verse that celebrated the beauty of noblewomen.
💡 Example Usage
那画中女子朱唇玉面，宛如天仙下凡。
The woman in the painting, with vermilion lips and a jade-like face, looked as if a celestial fairy had descended to the mortal world.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 朱唇玉面
- Pinyin: zhū chún yù miàn
- Literal Translation: vermilion lips, jade face
- Category: Quality
- Characters: 4