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孩儿立志出乡关

孩兒立志出鄉關
háiérlìzhìchūxiāngguān
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 the boy sets his will and departs the village gate
  2. 2 (fig.) a young man's vow to leave home and pursue his ambition
  3. 3 (lit.) child sets-will exit village-gate

Examples

孩儿立志出乡关，学不成名誓不还，是毛主席少年立志的名句。
Hái ér lì zhì chū xiāngguān, xué bù chéng míng shì bù huán, shì Máo zhǔxí shàonián lìzhì de míngjù.
'The boy sets his will and leaves the village gate; if study wins no name, I swear not to return' — Chairman Mao's famous youthful vow.
他高中毕业便远赴海外，应了孩儿立志出乡关那句话。
Tā gāozhōng bìyè biàn yuǎnfù hǎiwài, yìng le hái ér lì zhì chū xiāngguān nà jù huà.
After high school he went abroad — fulfilling the line 'the boy sets his will and leaves the village gate.'

Tips

history
From 毛泽东《七绝·改西乡隆盛诗赠父亲》(Mao Zedong, 1910, age 17), left for his father Mao Yichang on leaving Shaoshan village for the new school in Xiangxiang: 孩儿立志出乡关，学不成名誓不还。埋骨何须桑梓地，人生无处不青山 (The boy sets his will and leaves the village gate; if study wins no name, I swear not to return. Why must bones be buried in one's native land? — in life, every place holds green hills). Mao adapted it from Meiji Japanese samurai 西乡隆盛 (Saigō Takamori).
usage
Always paired with 学不成名誓不还. 乡关 = a classical term for 'the home village gate / homeland,' appearing also in 崔颢《黄鹤楼》's 日暮乡关何处是. Read 儿 as a separate syllable (ér), not a retroflex suffix.

Stroke Order

孩 hái
儿 ér
立 lì
志 zhì
出 chū
乡 xiāng
关 guān