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久在樊笼里

久在樊籠裡
jiǔzàifánlónglǐ
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 long caged within the cage
  2. 2 (fig.) long imprisoned in the official's world, far from one's true nature
  3. 3 (lit.) for long inside the fenced cage

Examples

久在樊笼里，复得返自然，是陶渊明辞官后的感受。
Jiǔ zài fán lóng lǐ, fù dé fǎn zìrán, shì Táo Yuānmíng cíguān hòu de gǎnshòu.
'Long caged in the cage, I return at last to nature' captures Tao Yuanming's feeling after resigning his post.
在城市里打拼多年，他觉得自己久在樊笼里。
Zài chéngshì lǐ dǎpīn duōnián, tā juéde zìjǐ jiǔ zài fán lóng lǐ.
After years of grinding in the city, he felt he had been 'long caged in the cage.'

Tips

history
Closing couplet of 陶渊明《归园田居·其一》(Tao Yuanming, Eastern Jin): 久在樊笼里，复得返自然 (Long caged in the cage, I return at last to my natural state). After eighty-plus days as magistrate of Pengze, Tao resigned rather than 为五斗米折腰 (bow for five pecks of rice) and went home to farm. 樊笼 = 'fenced cage' — the metaphor for officialdom became permanent in Chinese thanks to this line.
usage
Always quoted with 复得返自然 as the closing couplet. 樊笼 is now idiomatic for any confining environment — office jobs, cities, bad marriages.

Stroke Order

久 jiǔ
在 zài
樊 fán
笼 lóng
里 lǐ