兼容并蓄

兼容並蓄

jiānróngbìngxù

idiom #68,972

Meanings

1 to take in and preserve things of differing kinds
2 to be inclusive and embrace diversity

Characters

simultaneously, both

to contain, accommodate

side by side, together

to store, preserve

Examples

中华文化兼容并蓄，吸收了许多外来元素。

Zhōnghuá wénhuà jiānróngbìngxù, xīshōu le xǔduō wàilái yuánsù.

Chinese culture is inclusive and absorptive, having taken in many foreign elements.

这所大学的办学理念是兼容并蓄。

Zhè suǒ dàxué de bànxué lǐniàn shì jiānróngbìngxù.

This university's educational philosophy is one of inclusiveness.

Tips

culture

Variant of 兼收并蓄. Famously associated with Cai Yuanpei's 'thought freedom, all-embracing inclusiveness' (思想自由，兼容并包) reform program at Peking University in 1917.

mistakes

Don't confuse 兼容 (compatible, take in together) with 兼并 (to annex, swallow up). The idiom is about coexistence, not absorption-for-elimination.

Stroke Order

兼 jiān

容 róng

并 bìng

蓄 xù