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后不见来者

後不見來者
hòubùjiànláizhě
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 and after, I see no one coming
  2. 2 looking to the future, no successor appears either
  3. 3 the solitude of standing between vanished predecessors and unseen heirs

Examples

前不见古人，后不见来者——这份孤独无人能及。
Qián bù jiàn gǔrén, hòu bù jiàn lái zhě — zhè fèn gūdú wú rén néng jí.
'Before me, I see no ancients; behind me, no one coming' — no loneliness matches it.
站在舞台上，他感到一种前不见古人，后不见来者的孤独。
Zhàn zài wǔtái shàng, tā gǎndào yì zhǒng qián bù jiàn gǔrén, hòu bù jiàn lái zhě de gūdú.
Standing on the stage he felt a solitude of 'no ancients before, no one coming after.'

Tips

history
From Chen Ziang's (陈子昂, Early Tang dynasty) 《登幽州台歌》: 前不见古人，后不见来者。念天地之悠悠，独怆然而涕下 — 'Before me, I see no ancients; after me, no one coming. Thinking on the vastness of heaven and earth, alone in grief I weep.' Chen Ziang on the ancient Yan terrace at Youzhou, feeling cut off from both a lost golden age and a future he cannot see — one of the most anthologized short poems in all of Chinese literature.
usage
Always quoted as the second half of the pair with 前不见古人. 来者 = 'those who come / future people.' The couplet is the canonical Chinese expression of being orphaned between past and future, widely cited by artists, scholars, and anyone pioneering a path.

Stroke Order

后 hòu
不 bù
见 jiàn
来 lái
者 zhě