📖 Meaning
Literally 'charging through prefectures and ramming into cities,' it originally referred to wandering from town to town as a traveling entertainer or merchant running the regional circuits. By extension, it describes someone with rich life experience who has seen much of the world.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Yuan dynasty playwright Guan Hanqing's tragedy 'The Injustice to Dou E' (窦娥冤), first act. In the scene, the character Dou E reproaches her mother-in-law, Mistress Cai, for dragging her around through various prefectures and cities, implying a life of aimless wandering and hardship. The expression evokes the image of itinerant performers or peddlers who roamed from one administrative seat to another across the empire.
💡 Example Usage
他年轻时撞府冲州，在外闯荡多年，见过不少世面。
In his youth he traveled through countless towns and cities, wandering far from home for years and gaining a wealth of worldly experience.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 撞府冲州
- Pinyin: zhuàng fǔ chōng zhōu
- Literal Translation: ram, prefecture, charge, prefecture
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4