一桥飞架南北

一橋飛架南北

yīqiáofēijiànánběi

phrase

Meanings

1 a single bridge flies across, north to south
2 one bridge spans the two shores

Characters

to build across / span

Examples

一桥飞架南北，天堑变通途。

Yī qiáo fēi jià nán běi, tiānqiàn biàn tōngtú.

A single bridge flies across north and south — the natural chasm becomes an open road.

这座新大桥一桥飞架南北，两岸居民往来方便了很多。

Zhè zuò xīn dàqiáo yī qiáo fēi jià nán běi, liǎng àn jūmín wǎnglái fāngbiàn le hěn duō.

With this new bridge flying across north and south, residents on both shores now get around much more easily.

Tips

history

From Mao Zedong's 《水调歌头·游泳》 (1956), written after he swam in the Yangtze at Wuhan: 一桥飞架南北，天堑变通途。 The 'bridge' is the newly built Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (1957) — the first to span the Yangtze. The line became shorthand for modern infrastructure conquering geography.

usage

Nearly always paired with 天堑变通途 (the natural chasm becomes a thoroughfare). Quoted at the opening of any major bridge or tunnel project in China.

Stroke Order

一 yī

桥 qiáo

飞 fēi

架 jià

南 nán

北 běi