上穷碧落下黄泉

上窮碧落下黃泉

shàngqióngbìluòxiàhuángquán

phrase

Meanings

1 to search the azure heavens above and the Yellow Springs below
2 to search everywhere exhaustively
3 (lit.) up to exhaust the blue heights, down to the yellow springs

Characters

to exhaust / to the limit

blue-green / azure

(here) realm / place (碧落 = highest heaven)

spring (of water); 黄泉 = the underworld

Examples

为了找到真相，他上穷碧落下黄泉，翻遍了所有档案。

Wèile zhǎodào zhēnxiàng, tā shàng qióng bìluò xià huángquán, fānbiàn le suǒyǒu dàng'àn.

To find the truth, he searched heaven and earth, turning over every archive.

母亲寻子心切，上穷碧落下黄泉，终于得以团聚。

Mǔqīn xún zǐ xīnqiè, shàng qióng bìluò xià huángquán, zhōngyú déyǐ tuánjù.

Desperate to find her son, the mother searched everywhere — and was at last reunited with him.

Tips

history

From Bai Juyi's (白居易, Tang) 《长恨歌》: 上穷碧落下黄泉，两处茫茫皆不见。(They searched the azure skies above and the Yellow Springs below — in both realms, vast and empty, she could not be found.) A Daoist priest is dispatched by Emperor Xuanzong to seek the soul of the dead Yang Guifei (杨贵妃). 碧落 is the highest Daoist heaven; 黄泉 is the underworld.

usage

Functions like English 'to move heaven and earth' or 'to search high and low.' Tone of the phrase is dramatic and literary — not used for trivial searches.

Stroke Order

上 shàng

穷 qióng

碧 bì

落 luò

下 xià

黄 huáng

泉 quán