几家欢乐几家愁 (jǐjiāhuānlèjǐjiāchóu): some households rejoice, some households grieve — the same event brings joy to some and sorrow to others

Meanings

1 some households rejoice, some households grieve — the same event brings joy to some and sorrow to others
2 literally: how many households are joyful, how many households are sad

Characters

几

Examples

高考放榜，几家欢乐几家愁。

Gāokǎo fàngbǎng, jǐ jiā huānlè jǐ jiā chóu.

When the gaokao results come out, some families celebrate and some grieve.

股市一涨一跌，几家欢乐几家愁。

Gǔshì yī zhǎng yī diē, jǐ jiā huānlè jǐ jiā chóu.

One rise and one fall in the stock market — some households rejoice, others despair.

Tips

history

A Song-dynasty proverbial couplet, widely attributed to folk poetry and adopted into classical drama. A well-known variant appears in Song poet Yang Wanli's (杨万里) work and later in operatic tradition. The phrase captures the zero-sum emotional arithmetic of events like imperial examinations, harvests, court verdicts, or market moves.

usage

Go-to phrase for headline-style commentary on any event with winners and losers: exam results, company layoffs, elections, earnings season, lottery draws. Often opens or closes a paragraph as a summary line.