千锤百炼

千錘百煉
qiānchuí-bǎiliàn
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 thoroughly tempered through countless hardships
  2. 2 (of writing) polished through many revisions

Examples

HSK 3
Hǎo wénzhāng dōu shì qiānchuí-bǎiliàn chūlái de.
Great writing always comes from endless polishing.
HSK 7-9
Zhè zhī bùduì shì jīngguò qiānchuí-bǎiliàn de jīngruì.
This unit is an elite force forged through countless trials.

Tips

history
Traces to Jin-dynasty poet Liu Kun's 《重赠卢谌》: 何意百炼刚,化为绕指柔 (how could steel forged a hundred times soften around a finger?). Song-dynasty 《全唐诗话》 extended the metaphor to literary revision.
memory
千锤 = a thousand hammer strikes, 百炼 = a hundred firings - picture a swordsmith forging a blade over and over until perfect.

Stroke Order

qiān
chuí
bǎi
liàn