一日看尽长安花

一日看盡長安花
yī rì kàn jìn Cháng'ān huā
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 in a single day I see all the flowers of Chang'an
  2. 2 the giddy sweep of sudden success
  3. 3 in one day, view exhaustively the flowers of Chang'an

Examples

HSK 6
Nádào lùqǔ tōngzhī nàtiān, tā fǎngfú yīrìkànjìncháng'ānhuā.
The day her acceptance letter arrived, it was as if she'd seen all the flowers of Chang'an in one day.
HSK 7-9
Tā jīnbǎngtímíng hòu, zhēn yǒu yīrìkànjìncháng'ānhuā de déyì.
After acing the exam, he felt the giddy 'all the flowers of Chang'an in one day' kind of elation.

Tips

history
From Meng Jiao's 孟郊 Tang-dynasty poem 《登科后》 (After Passing the Imperial Exam). Full couplet: 春风得意马蹄疾,一日看尽长安花 - 'spring breeze, all going my way, hooves flying; in one day I see every flower in Chang'an.' Meng wrote it at age 46 after finally passing the jinshi exam, overjoyed after decades of failure. The first half gave us the idiom 春风得意.
usage
Shorthand for the exhilaration of a long-awaited triumph, especially one of exam, academic, or career success. Chang'an (modern Xi'an) was the Tang capital and the site of the imperial examinations.

Stroke Order

kàn
jìn
cháng
ān
huā