天翻地覆慨而慷

tiān fān dì fù kǎi ér kāng

quotation

Meanings

1 heaven upturned, earth overturned - impassioned and fervent
2 an earth-shaking, spirit-stirring moment
3 sky flipped, earth overturned, indignant and impassioned

Characters

turn over / flip

indignant / moved

impassioned / generous

Examples

HSK 6

他写诗纪念革命，用上了天翻地覆慨而慷一句。

Tā xiě shī jìniàn gémìng, yòng shàng le tiān fān dì fù kǎi ér kāng yī jù.

Writing a poem in memory of the revolution, he invoked 'heaven upturned, earth overturned, impassioned and fervent.'

HSK 7-9

那段历史可谓天翻地覆慨而慷，值得后人细读。

Nà duàn lìshǐ kěwèi tiān fān dì fù kǎi ér kāng, zhíde hòurén xì dú.

That era was truly earth-shaking and spirit-stirring - worth close study by later generations.

Tips

history

From 毛泽东's April 1949 poem 《七律·人民解放军占领南京》 (Seven-Character Regulated Verse: The PLA Occupies Nanjing). Full couplet: 钟山风雨起苍黄，百万雄师过大江。虎踞龙盘今胜昔，天翻地覆慨而慷. Written as Communist forces crossed the Yangtze and took the Nationalist capital, marking the effective end of the civil war.

usage

慨而慷 reverses the normal order 慷慨 ('generous / stirred') for rhythm and rhyme (the poem's rhyme is -ang). The 4-character 天翻地覆 on its own is a common chengyu meaning 'world-shaking change.'

Stroke Order

天 tiān

翻 fān

地 dì

覆 fù

慨 kǎi

而 ér

慷 kāng