諺語 · a single proverb
海闊天空
Simplified: 海阔天空
What does 海闊天空 (hǎi kuò tiān kōng) mean?
海闊天空 (hǎi kuò tiān kōng) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語). Word for word it reads "the sea is wide and the sky is empty." In use it means: When you let go of what confines you, the world opens up. Freedom comes from releasing, not from grasping. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Pig.
Literally: "the sea is wide and the sky is empty."
The reading
The feeling is not that the world got bigger. It is that the walls you built around yourself came down. The sea was always wide. The sky was always empty. You were the one standing in a closet, staring at the door, refusing to open it.
What kind of proverb it is
Source Common idiom; Tang poetry usage (Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫 and others)
Sits beside
上善若水
shàng shàn ruò shuǐ
The finest virtue is like water, which benefits all things and flows to the low places without contending.
大道至簡
dà dào zhì jiǎn
The deepest truths are plain.
天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅
tiān xià zhī zhì róu chí chěng tiān xià zhī zhì jiān
The most yielding force in the world overcomes the most unyielding.
Keep reading
Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in The Way of Water, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Pig, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.
Questions
Is 海闊天空 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 海闊天空 (hǎi kuò tiān kōng) is a four-character classical idiom (chéngyǔ 成語), and it comes from Common idiom; Tang poetry usage (Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫 and others). It is living Chinese heritage, given here with per-character pinyin and its source so you can trust the line, not a phrase invented in English.
How do you pronounce 海闊天空?
In Mandarin it is hǎi kuò tiān kōng. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 海闊天空 aloud in Mandarin.