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水击三千里

水擊三千里
shuǐ jī sān qiān lǐ
quotation

Meanings

  1. 1 the water is struck for three thousand li
  2. 2 to churn up the waters across three thousand li (as the giant Peng takes off)
  3. 3 (lit.) water struck three thousand li

Examples

他说自己要水击三千里，干一番大事业。
Tā shuō zìjǐ yào shuǐjīsānqiānlǐ, gàn yīfān dàshì yè.
He said he would beat the waters for three thousand li — and build something great.
自信人生二百年，会当水击三千里，是年轻人的誓言。
Zìxìnrénshēng'èrbǎinián, huì dāng shuǐjīsānqiānlǐ, shì niánqīngrén de shìyán.
'I trust life lasts two hundred years; I shall beat the waters for three thousand li' is the young person's creed.

Tips

history
Originally from 《庄子·逍遥游》 (Zhuangzi: Free and Easy Wandering): 『鹏之徙于南冥也，水击三千里，抟扶摇而上者九万里』— 'when the Peng migrates to the Southern Ocean, its wings beat the water for three thousand li, and it rides the whirlwind ninety thousand li upward.' The young Mao Zedong (毛泽东) famously recycled the line in his 1917 couplet 『自信人生二百年，会当水击三千里』.
usage
击 here isn't 'attack' — it's the churning slap of the giant bird's wings on the water's surface. Modern use leans on the Mao couplet, framing the phrase as a declaration of grand ambition.

Stroke Order

水 shuǐ
击 jī
三 sān
千 qiān
里 lǐ