精卫填海
Jīngwèi tián hǎi
Translation: Jingwei tries to fill up the sea.
Meaning: Set on achieving one’s goal despite daunting difficulties.
Story
The proverb comes from a story in the Shan hai jing (Classic of the Mountains and Seas). Compiled between the 4th century BCE and the early Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), Shan hai jing is a fabled geographical and cultural account of China prior to the Qin dynasty (221-207 BCE).
In a thick forest on Mount Fajiu there lived a bird named Jingwei. She was in fact the incarnation of Emperor Yan’s youngest daughter. She had gone to swim in the sea but never emerged. The spirit of the drowned princess turned into the bird Jingwei. To avenge her death, she attempted the impossible: She picked up pebbles and twigs from Mount Fajiu and dropped them into the sea, in the hope of filling it up. She flew back and forth and never stopped working, until one day she died of exhaustion.
This proverb has a double meaning. The positive one teaches people not to give up even when facing insurmountable difficulties. The negative is a warning that one should not attempt the impossible, because it will be fruitless after all.
Vocabulary
| Character | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 精 | jīng | Spirit, Essence (N) |
| 卫 | wèi | to defend (V), defense (N) |
| 精卫 | Jīngwèi | Name of a legendary bird |
| 填 | tián | to fill (V) |
| 海 | hǎi | sea (N) |
| 精灵 | jīngling | elf, spirit (N) |
| 填空 | tiánkòng | to fill the gap, to fill in the blanks (V) |
Example
二战时期，中国军民本着精卫填海的精神，把日本侵略者赶出了中国。
During WWII, the Chinese people and their armies fought dauntlessly and drove the Japanese aggressors out of their land.
