山雨欲来风满楼

山雨欲來風滿樓

shānyǔyùláifēngmǎnlóu

idiom

Meanings

1 the mountain rain is about to come, wind fills the tower — tense, foreboding calm before a storm
2 literally: as mountain rain is about to come, wind fills the tower

Characters

Examples

公司最近人事变动频繁，山雨欲来风满楼。

Gōngsī zuìjìn rénshì biàndòng pínfán, shānyǔyùláifēngmǎnlóu.

Personnel shifts at the company have been frequent lately — you can feel the storm coming.

谈判前夕，双方态度突变，真有山雨欲来风满楼之势。

Tánpàn qiánxī, shuāngfāng tàidù tūbiàn, zhēn yǒu shānyǔyùláifēngmǎnlóu zhī shì.

On the eve of negotiations both sides shifted abruptly — an unmistakable calm-before-the-storm feeling.

Tips

history

From Xu Hun's (许浑) late-Tang poem 《咸阳城东楼》 (East Tower of Xianyang City). The couplet reads: 溪云初起日沉阁，山雨欲来风满楼 — 'Clouds rise over the stream as the sun sinks behind the pavilion; the mountain rain is about to come, and wind fills the tower.' Originally a pure landscape image; later became the go-to metaphor for political / organisational foreboding.

usage

Almost always figurative in modern use — impending crisis, scandal, power shift, war. Journalistic favorite. The literal sense (an approaching weather front) is rarely invoked.

Stroke Order

山 shān

雨 yǔ

欲 yù

来 lái

风 fēng

满 mǎn

楼 lóu