Just let me know if you want the Korean version, which will also make sense in Japanese, and though not as natural, will also make sense in Chinese as well. The same characters are used in Korean, but the 2nd and 4th characters are swapped to create a word pronounced “불요불굴” in Korean. In Japanese, this is considered two words (with very similar meanings). The first two characters can be stand-alone words in Chinese. Some will translate this as “indomitable spirit” however, technically, there is no character to suggest the idea of “spirit” in this word. This may explain better why these four characters mean “indomitable.” So this really means “Won't be bent, can't be bothered.” I have also seen it written as “Will not crouch, will not submit.” This comes from the fact that the second character can mean “to crouch” and the last can mean “to submit” (as in “to give in” such as “submitting to the rule of someone else”). The last means “scratched” or “bothered.” Both mean “not” (they work as a suffix to make a negative or opposite meaning to whatever character follows). If you want to break it down, you can see that the first and third characters are the same. At least, it is often translated as a single word into English. This is a long word by Chinese standards. 不屈不撓 means “Indomitable” or “Unyielding.” See Also: Tenacity | Fortitude | Strength | Perseverance | Persistence If you want a single big word definition, it would be indefatigability, indomitableness, persistence, or unyielding. Most Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people will not take this absolutely literal meaning but will instead understand it as the title suggests above. Our translator says it can mean “never give up” in modern Chinese.Īlthough the first two characters are translated correctly as “repeated setbacks,” the literal meaning is “100 setbacks” or “a rope that breaks 100 times.” The last two characters can mean “do not yield” or “do not give up.” My Chinese-English dictionary defines these 4 characters as “keep on fighting despite all setbacks,” “be undaunted by repeated setbacks,” and “be indomitable.” His tombstone reads “Bai Zhe Bu Nao” which is now a proverb used in Chinese culture to describe a person of strong will who puts up stubborn resistance against great odds. Qiao Xuan was so disgusted that in protest, he resigned from his post as minister (something almost never done) and left for his home village. The new Emperor refused to listen to Qiao Xuan and even promoted the corrupt Minister. Near the end of his career, a new Emperor came to power, and Qiao Xuan reported to him that one of his ministers was bullying the people and extorting money from them. While all of the bandits were arrested in the raid, they killed Qiao Xuan's son at first sight of the raiding soldiers. But when his own son was captured, he was so focused on his duty to the Emperor and the common good that he sent a platoon of soldiers to raid the bandits' hideout, and stop them once and for all even at the risk of his own son's life. Then when he was at a higher level in the Imperial Court, bandits were regularly capturing hostages and demanding ransoms. He fought to expose the corruption of higher-level government officials at great risk to himself. His name was Qiao Xuan, and he never stooped to flattery but remained an upright person at all times. This proverb comes from a long, and occasionally tragic story of a man that lived sometime around 25-220 AD. More directly translated, it reads, “ a hundred setbacks, without flinching.” 百折不撓 is of Chinese origin but is commonly used in Japanese and somewhat in Korean (same characters, different pronunciation). 百折不撓 is a Chinese proverb that means “Be undaunted in the face of repeated setbacks.”
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