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ChengYu: 一木难支 Meaning
Check out the meaning of the Chinese idiom, "一木难支!" We take a look at the origins behind this chengyu, along with how to use it in a sentence!
Ru-Ping Chen
Jul 7, 2015
THE IDIOM
Traditional: 一木難支
Simplified: 一木难支
Pinyin: yī mù nán zhī
SIMILAR IDIOMS
孤木難支 (traditional); 孤木难支 (simplified); gū mù nán zhī (pinyin)
EXPLANATION
The idiom 一木难支 directly translates to “a single post cannot support a toppling structure.” In other words, when a situation gets incredibly difficult, it cannot be saved by one person (place or thing).
一木: one tree
难: difficult
支: support
THE BACKSTORY
During the Southern Dynasties period in China (approx 420-589 BC), a man named Xiao DaoCheng (萧道成, xiāo dào chéng) accumulated great political power, killed loyal officials, and paid little to no respect to 宋顺帝 (sòng shùn dì), the emperor at the time. Everyone in the political sphere knew that Xiao DaoCheng wanted to usurp the emperor’s power. In other words, he was incredibly cocky. Two loyal officials to the emperor, Yuan Zhou (袁粥, yuán zhōu) and Liu Dong (刘东 liú dōng), made secret plans to get rid of Xiao DaoCheng. These plans failed however, because of Chu Yuan (褚渊, chǔ yuán), an official loyal to Xiao DaoCheng, reported these plans to him. Why? Because politics corrupts and everything usually falls apart.
To protect himself, Xiao DaoCheng sent an army to kill Yuan Zhou, surrounding his home and making it impossible for Yuan Zhou and his family to escape death. Survival of the fittest? Yeah, that’s a good nickname for politics. Knowing that his family would cease to exist in a matter of hours, Yuan Zhou told his son, “I know that one tree cannot stop a mansion from toppling, but we will fight because we will die honorably.” And die honorably they did as 袁粥 and his family sacrificed their lives for what they thought was morally right.
REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES OF 一木难支
1. In the Qing dynasty, the GuangXu emperor (光绪帝; guāng xù dì), wanted to start reforms in China to catch up with the quickly modernizing Western world. Doing so would ideally protect Chinese borders and allow China to compete in a changing world. But the Dowager Empress Cixi (慈禧太后; cí xǐ tài hòu) saw these reforms as a threat to her power, which was much greater than that of GuangXu, and she shot those reforms down. How? Cixi put him under house arrest for the rest of his life. Cixi was basically telling him, “Go ahead and enforce those reforms now.” It should be noted that many of the officials in court were loyal to the Dowager Empress.
2. In the 1930s, the stock market crashed and launched the United States into the Great Depression. Even though some experts saw the imminent disaster, they had no support and in the end, the comfortable lifestyle of before was no more.
HOW TO USE “一木难支” IN A SENTENCE
1. 这篇英文文章，我实在一木难支，必须得靠中英翻译字典来完成。
Translation: I must use my Chinese-English dictionary to finish my English essay, because I alone do not have the abilities to write it on my own.
2. 总经理真想不开。他非要靠自己的能力去完成这件事情，肯定会一木难支。
Translation: The manager cannot rely on his abilities alone to finish this project. He’s not thinking this matter through.
3. 我总觉得我的人脉不足，一个人真是一木难支。
Translation: I always feel like I do not network well enough and my lack of support makes me feel alone.
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