铁饭碗

鐵飯碗

tiěfànwǎn

idiom

Measure Word

一个铁饭碗 gè

Meanings

1 an iron rice bowl
2 a secure job for life
3 unshakeable employment (traditionally in state-owned work units)

Characters

Examples

他放弃了国企的铁饭碗，跑去创业。

Tā fàngqì le guóqǐ de tiěfànwǎn, pǎo qù chuàngyè.

He gave up his iron rice bowl at the state-owned enterprise and went off to start his own company.

父母总想让孩子考公务员，觉得那才是铁饭碗。

Fùmǔ zǒng xiǎng ràng háizi kǎo gōngwùyuán, juéde nà cái shì tiěfànwǎn.

Parents always want their kids to sit the civil service exam, seeing it as the only true iron rice bowl.

Tips

culture

Coined in the Mao era for state jobs that could never be lost. Today it's a cultural touchstone in debates about civil-service vs. private-sector life — and the phrase 'breaking the iron rice bowl' (打破铁饭碗) is shorthand for 1980s-90s reform.

Stroke Order

铁 tiě

饭 fàn

碗 wǎn