耳里如闻饥冻声

耳裡如聞飢凍聲

ěr lǐ rú wén jīdòng shēng

quotation

Meanings

1 in my ear it is as if I hear cries of hunger and cold
2 Bai Juyi's image of a conscience haunted by the suffering of the poor, even from a warm room

Characters

Examples

HSK 7-9

读到灾区报道，他耳里如闻饥冻声，整晚睡不着。

Dú dào zāiqū bàodào, tā ěr lǐ rú wén jīdòng shēng, zhěng wǎn shuìbuzháo.

Reading the disaster-zone report, it was as if he heard cries of hunger and cold in his ears - he couldn't sleep all night.

HSK 7-9

身在高位却耳里如闻饥冻声，这才是父母官。

Shēn zài gāowèi què ěr lǐ rú wén jīdòng shēng, zhè cái shì fùmǔguān.

To hold high office yet still hear the cries of hunger and cold - that is a true 'people's official.'

Tips

history

From 《新制布裘》 by 白居易 (Bai Juyi, Tang dynasty), contemplating his warm cotton cloak: '安得万里裘，盖裹周四垠？稳暖皆如我，天下无寒人.' The 饥冻声 line dramatizes the guilt of middle-class warmth while others freeze - characteristic Bai Juyi social conscience.

usage

如闻 = 'as if hearing' - a staple classical construction for vivid imagined sensation.

Stroke Order

耳 ěr

里 lǐ

如 rú

闻 wén

饥 jī

冻 dòng

声 shēng