难于上青天

難於上青天

nányúshàngqīngtiān

idiom

Meanings

1 harder than climbing to the blue sky
2 extraordinarily difficult / all but impossible

Characters

than (classical comparative)

to ascend / climb

Examples

在北京买房对年轻人来说难于上青天。

Zài Běijīng mǎi fáng duì niánqīng rén lái shuō nán yú shàng qīng tiān.

For young people, buying a home in Beijing is harder than climbing to the sky.

说服他改变主意简直难于上青天。

Shuōfú tā gǎibiàn zhǔyì jiǎnzhí nán yú shàng qīng tiān.

Persuading him to change his mind is practically impossible.

Tips

history

From Li Bai's (李白) Tang poem 《蜀道难》 (Hard is the Road to Shu): 蜀道之难，难于上青天 — 'The road to Shu is hard, harder than climbing to the blue sky.' The poem opens and closes with this line, describing the mountain path into Sichuan. Today it's a stock hyperbole for any extreme difficulty.

usage

Commonly preceded by 比 X or used with 简直 for emphasis. Sometimes shortened to just 上青天 in writing. Register: slightly literary but widely understood.

Stroke Order

难 nán

于 yú

上 shàng

青 qīng

天 tiān