百闻不如一见

百聞不如一見

bǎiwénbùrúyījiàn

idiom #53,102

Meanings

1 hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once
2 seeing is believing

Characters

Examples

HSK 2

百闻不如一见，你自己去看看就明白了。

Bǎiwénbùrúyījiàn, nǐ zìjǐ qù kànkàn jiù míngbai le.

Seeing is believing; go take a look yourself and you'll understand.

HSK 3

到了长城才知道什么叫百闻不如一见。

Dào le Chángchéng cái zhīdào shénme jiào bǎiwénbùrúyījiàn.

Only after reaching the Great Wall did I understand what 'seeing is believing' means.

HSK 7-9

朋友夸了那家餐厅好多次，今天一尝，果然百闻不如一见。

Péngyǒu kuā le nà jiā cāntīng hǎoduō cì, jīntiān yī cháng, guǒrán bǎiwénbùrúyījiàn.

My friend raved about that restaurant many times; one taste today proved seeing is truly better than hearing.

Tips

history

From 《汉书·赵充国传》: Han-dynasty general 赵充国, asked to plan a campaign against the Qiang from afar, replied 百闻不如一见，兵难遥度 - 'war is hard to judge at a distance,' and insisted on inspecting the frontier himself before advising the emperor.

Stroke Order

百 bǎi

闻 wén

不 bù

如 rú

一 yī

见 jiàn