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, shān yǔ yù lái fēng mǎn lóu.

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 shān yǔ yù lái fēng mǎn lóu 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