万水千山只等闲

萬水千山只等閒

wànshuǐqiānshānzhǐděngxián

phrase

Meanings

1 countless rivers and mountains are a mere trifle
2 great hardships are regarded as nothing
3 unfazed by any obstacle

Characters

idle / ordinary

Examples

对这支队伍来说，万水千山只等闲。

Duì zhè zhī duìwu lái shuō, wàn shuǐ qiān shān zhǐ děngxián.

For this team, ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains are nothing at all.

他创业路上困难重重，但抱着万水千山只等闲的心态坚持了下来。

Tā chuàngyè lù shàng kùnnán chóngchóng, dàn bàozhe wàn shuǐ qiān shān zhǐ děngxián de xīntài jiānchí le xiàlái.

His path as an entrepreneur was full of trials, but he held on with the attitude that no mountain or river was anything to fear.

Tips

history

Opening couplet of Mao Zedong's 1935 poem 《七律·长征》 (Qīlǜ: Chángzhēng, 'Long March'): 红军不怕远征难，万水千山只等闲 — 'The Red Army fears no trials of the long march; ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains are nothing to it.' One of the most quoted lines in 20th-century Chinese poetry.

usage

等闲 here means 'ordinary / a mere trifle' (not its modern sense of 'easily / idly'). 只等闲 = 'just an ordinary thing, not worth mentioning.'

Stroke Order

万 wàn

水 shuǐ

千 qiān

山 shān

只 zhǐ

等 děng

闲 xián