Scientific research is like "a thousand pannings and ten thousand strainings - hard, yet in the end the wild sand is blown away and you reach the gold".
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history
From Liu Yuxi's (刘禹锡, Tang dynasty) 《浪淘沙》其八: 千淘万漉虽辛苦，吹尽狂沙始到金 - 'A thousand pannings and ten thousand strainings - bitter labor indeed; only when the wild sand is all blown away do you reach gold.' Draws on the imagery of Tang-era alluvial gold prospecting. Now a stock metaphor for any grind that eventually yields real value.
usage
Always cited together with 吹尽狂沙始到金. 淘 and 漉 both mean to sift or wash through water - compare 淘金 'to pan for gold'. 漉 is rare outside this and a handful of classical compounds.
