耳里如闻饥冻声

耳裡如聞飢凍聲

ěrlǐrúwénjīdòngshēng

phrase

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

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 shuìbùzháo.

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.

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