一yī代dài傳chuán一yī代dài

What does 一代傳一代 (yī dài chuán yī dài) mean?

一代傳一代 (yī dài chuán yī dài) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "one generation passes to the next." In use it means: Knowledge, values, and traditions flowing from parent to child; the chain of transmission that keeps a culture alive. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Earth note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Pig.

Literally: "one generation passes to the next."

The reading

Your grandmother knew a recipe. Your mother learned it by watching. You learned it by watching your mother. The recipe is not in a book. It is in the hands, in the timing, in the pause before the next ingredient. Tradition is not a document. It is a relay, and every runner adds something the previous one did not carry.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element土 Earth
• Zodiac tie豬 Year of the Pig

Source Common folk expression; deeply embedded in Chinese cultural practice

Sits beside

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 Home, Family & Roots, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Pig, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.