烽火连天

烽火連天

fēnghuǒ-liántiān

idiom #82,383

Meanings

1 war raging everywhere
2 beacon fires filling the sky

Characters

to join; to reach

Examples

HSK 5

那是一个烽火连天的年代。

Nà shì yí ge fēnghuǒ-liántiān de niándài.

Those were years when war raged everywhere.

HSK 6

烽火连天的时候，很多百姓离开家乡，逃往南方。

Fēnghuǒ-liántiān de shíhou, hěnduō bǎixìng líkāi jiāxiāng, táowǎng nánfāng.

With war raging across the land, many ordinary people left their hometowns and fled south.

Tips

history

烽火 were the beacon fires lit on frontier watchtowers and relayed from tower to tower to warn of invasion. When they reach the sky (连天), the whole country is at war. The image goes back to Han dynasty writing about beacons that burned for a month without stopping.

Stroke Order

烽 fēng

火 huǒ

连 lián

天 tiān