罄竹難書
Chinese
| entirely; exhausted; stern | bamboo | disaster; distress; to scold disaster; distress; to scold; difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good |
book; letter | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (罄竹難書) | 罄 | 竹 | 難 | 書 | |
| simp. (罄竹难书) | 罄 | 竹 | 难 | 书 | |
| Literally: “so many that one cannot record all of them on bamboo slips even when they have been exhausted”. | |||||
Etymology
From Lüshi Chunqiu:
- 此皆亂國之所生也，不能勝數，盡荊、越之竹，猶不能書。 [MSC, trad.]
- From: Mingli, Jixia, Lüshi Chunqiu (呂氏春秋·季夏紀·明理)
- Cǐ jiē luàn guó zhī suǒ shēng yě, bùnéng shèng shù, jìn jīng, yuè zhī zhú, yóu bù néng shū. [Pinyin]
- These weird phenomena were due to political corruption. There were so many of them that it would not be enough to record all even if the bamboos in Jing (also known as Chu) and Yue states were used up.
此皆乱国之所生也，不能胜数，尽荆、越之竹，犹不能书。 [MSC, simp.]
Another source is from Zu Junyan's letter of declaration of war against Emperor Yang of Sui on behalf of Li Mi, which was also quoted in the Old Book of Tang:
- 罄南山之竹，書罪無窮；決東海之波，流惡難盡。 [MSC, trad.]
- From: Zu Junyan, Declaration of War against Luoyang on behalf of Li Mi, in Chapter 132, Quan Tang Wen (全唐文·卷一百三十二·為李密檄洛州文) and Chapter 53: Biography of Li Mi, Old Book of Tang (舊唐書·李密傳)
- Qìng nánshān zhī zhú, shū zuì wúqióng; jué dōnghǎi zhī bō, liú è nán jìn. [Pinyin]
- Even using up the bamboos in Zhongnan Mountains would not be enough to write (Emperor Yang's) crimes; even using up water in the East China Sea would not be enough to wash away his crimes.
罄南山之竹，书罪无穷；决东海之波，流恶难尽。 [MSC, simp.]
Pronunciation
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