风流总被雨打风吹去

風流總被雨打風吹去
fēngliúzǒngbèiyǔdǎfēngchuīqù
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 all glory and romance are in the end beaten by rain and blown off by wind
  2. 2 (fig.) the splendor of past heroes and times inevitably fades into history
  3. 3 (lit.) elegance / dash — always gets rain-struck and wind-blown away

Examples

Zài huīhuáng de wángcháo yě dí bùguò shíjiān, fēngliú zǒng bèi yǔ dǎ fēng chuī qù.
No matter how glorious, every dynasty loses to time — 'elegance is always beaten by rain and swept by wind.'
Tā wàngzhe jiù chéngqiáng gǎntàn dào, fēngliú zǒng bèi yǔ dǎ fēng chuī qù.
Looking at the old city wall, he sighed: 'all glory is battered down by rain and wind in the end.'

Tips

history
From ·怀》 (Xin Qiji, Southern Song, 1205): 江山英雄风流 (Through the ages this land, but no place left to seek the hero Sun Zhongmou. Dancing pavilions, singing terraces — all their glory beaten down by rain, blown off by wind). Xin climbed Beigu Pavilion in Jingkou and mourned both the lost Three Kingdoms-era heroes and the Southern Song's failure to recover the north.
usage
风流 in this context = 'splendor / dash / romantic glory' of past figures, NOT the modern sense 'promiscuous.' The line is a staple quotation for any meditation on historical decline.

Stroke Order

fēng
liú
zǒng
bèi
chuī