Lì Jīng Jiān Xīn: 历经艰辛 - After Enduring Hardships

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• Summary: 历经艰辛 (lì jīng jiān xīn) literally translates to “having experienced hardships and difficulties.” This four-character verb phrase carries tremendous emotional weight in Chinese, conveying the idea of someone who has traveled through a long, painful journey filled with obstacles, setbacks, and suffering. Unlike simple descriptions of difficulty, 历经艰辛 implies a narrative arc—a story of survival, perseverance, and ultimate triumph or at least endurance. The term appears frequently in official Chinese media, business biographies, personal essays, and literary works. It signals respect for the subject's endurance and often serves as a rhetorical device to inspire audiences by highlighting human resilience. For English speakers learning Chinese, mastering 历经艰辛 means understanding not just its definition but its social currency in modern China, where discussing hardship carries complex cultural implications. This comprehensive guide explores the term's etymology, emotional layers, practical usage in real-world scenarios, and common mistakes to avoid. Whether you are reading Chinese news, watching dramatic films, or writing your own compositions, 历经艰辛 will help you sound more natural and culturally aware.

Core Information

• Pinyin: lì jīng jiān xīn
• Part of Speech: Verb phrase (动词短语), functions as predicate or attributive
• HSK Level: 5 (intermediate-advanced)
• Concise Definition: To have experienced numerous hardships and difficulties; to have endured a painful journey

The “In a Nutshell” Concept

Imagine scrolling through a documentary about a self-made entrepreneur. The narrator describes how the founder started from nothing, faced bankruptcy twice, worked sixteen-hour days for years, and finally built a multinational corporation. In Chinese, you would describe this person as someone who 历经艰辛—someone who has literally “passed through” fire and “stepped over” thorns to reach their current position.

The soul of 历经艰辛 lies in its narrative quality. Unlike the English phrase “to go through hardships,” which feels clinical and temporary, 历经艰辛 suggests a completed journey. The character 经 (jīng) means “to pass through” or “to experience,” while 艰辛 (jiān xīn) combines 艰 (difficult, arduous) and 辛 (bitter, pungent, suffering). Together, they create an image of someone who has walked through a dark forest of difficulties and emerged on the other side.

What makes 历经艰辛 particularly powerful is its dual nature. It simultaneously acknowledges pain and celebrates survival. When Chinese speakers use this term, they are not just reporting facts; they are paying respect to human endurance. The phrase carries a certain gravitas that makes it inappropriate for trivial complaints but perfect for describing genuinely arduous life circumstances.

Evolution and Etymology

The term 历经艰辛 is not an ancient classical idiom but rather a modern four-character expression that emerged from classical Chinese building blocks. To understand its depth, we must examine each component.

The character 历 (lì) originally depicted the action of moving forward while looking back, as shown in its oracle bone form. It evolved to mean “to pass through,” “to experience,” or “to undergo.” In classical texts, 历 often appears in phrases like 历览 (to look through), indicating a comprehensive experience.

经 (jīng) shares a semantic field with 历, meaning “to pass through” or “to undergo.” However, 经 carries additional connotations of regularity, canon, and suffering. In Buddhist and Daoist contexts, 经 refers to sacred scriptures (the “classics”), but as a verb, it means to experience pain, suffering, or hardship. The compound 经历 (jīng lì) directly translates to “to experience” and forms the verb backbone of 历经艰辛.

艰 (jiān) is a ideogram combining the radical for “earth” (土) with a phonetic component. The original meaning relates to earth that is difficult to work with—hard, unyielding soil that resists cultivation. This evolved into the abstract meaning of “difficult,” “arduous,” or “hardship.” 艰难 (jiān nán) is the most common pairing, meaning “difficult” or “hard.”

辛 (xīn) originally represented a acupuncture needle, symbolizing pain and suffering. Later, it came to describe the pungent or bitter taste (as in 辛辣, sharp and pungent), but its deeper meaning connects to suffering and toil. The character 幸 (xìng), meaning “luck” or “happiness,” differs from 辛 only by the addition of a vertical line—suggesting that true happiness lies just beyond reach from suffering.

When these characters combine into 历经艰辛, they create a phrase that essentially means “to have passed through bitterness and difficulty.” The expression gained prominence during the twentieth century, particularly during the Communist Revolution and subsequent decades of social upheaval. At that time, 历经艰辛 became a way to validate personal suffering as meaningful and to connect individual struggles to grand historical narratives. Revolutionary heroes, war veterans, and founding leaders were frequently described as having 历经艰辛, lending their achievements extra weight and legitimacy.

In contemporary China, the term remains associated with respectability and moral authority. However, its usage has expanded beyond political contexts to include business success stories, artistic achievements, scientific breakthroughs, and personal life journeys. The phrase has become a staple of eulogies, award presentations, motivational speeches, and social media tributes.

Understanding 历经艰辛 requires comparing it with related expressions that describe hardship and suffering. While these terms share semantic territory, each carries unique nuances regarding intensity, emotional coloring, and appropriate contexts.

The following table maps 历经艰辛 against its closest synonyms:

The most important distinction between 历经艰辛 and similar expressions lies in its grammatical flexibility. Unlike 千辛万苦, which functions primarily as an adverbial phrase or direct object, 历经艰辛 can serve as a true verb phrase that takes an object. For example, one can say 历经艰辛取得成功 (having gone through hardships to achieve success), where 历经艰辛 modifies the subsequent action. This grammatical versatility makes it invaluable in formal writing and speeches.

Additionally, 历经艰辛 carries a slightly more detached, observational tone compared to the more emotionally saturated 千辛万苦. When a news anchor reports that a scientist 历经艰辛终于研制出疫苗, the tone suggests respectful acknowledgment of difficulties without melodrama. In contrast, if that same scientist said 他们千辛万苦才研发出疫苗, the emphasis shifts to the personal emotional experience of struggle.

Where It Works (and Where It Fails)

Understanding where 历经艰辛 succeeds and where it falls flat requires cultural sensitivity that dictionaries cannot provide. The term operates within specific social contexts that shape its reception.

The Workplace: Formality and Power Dynamics

In professional settings, 历经艰辛 appears most often in three contexts: performance reviews, leadership speeches, and corporate communications about company history.

When used in performance contexts, the phrase typically describes an employee's journey rather than current performance. A manager might say, 张总历经艰辛，从基层销售一路做到区域总监 (President Zhang has gone through tremendous hardships, rising from a grassroots salesperson to regional director). Here, 历经艰辛 serves as a narrative device that justifies promotion—it suggests that the person has “paid their dues” and earned their position through suffering.

In leadership speeches, especially during company anniversaries or major meetings, executives frequently invoke 历经艰辛 to connect present success to past struggles. This serves multiple purposes: it humanizes leadership by acknowledging vulnerability, it creates a narrative arc that inspires employees, and it suggests that current challenges are manageable because the company has survived worse. A typical invocation might be: 我们历经艰辛，战胜了1998年的金融危机，才有今天的规模 (Having gone through hardships and overcome the 1998 financial crisis, we have reached today's scale).

However, 历经艰辛 fails in casual workplace conversations about daily frustrations. If a colleague complains about traffic delays by saying 今天历经艰辛才到公司, native speakers would perceive this as melodramatic and disconnected. The term carries too much weight for minor inconveniences. In this case, simpler expressions like 费了好大劲 (exerted great effort) or 真不容易 (really not easy) would be more appropriate.

Social Media and Slang: Gen-Z Usage

Younger Chinese speakers (born after 1995, often called Gen-Z or Z世代) generally avoid 历经艰辛 in everyday online communication. The term feels too formal, even slightly outdated, for casual social media exchanges. When it does appear in Gen-Z contexts, it typically serves ironic or humorous purposes.

On platforms like Bilibili or Douyin, users might deliberately deploy 历经艰辛 in an exaggerated manner to mock over-dramatization. For example, a video about struggling to open a stubborn jar lid might captioN: 历经艰辛，终于拧开了瓶盖 (After enduring tremendous hardships, I finally opened the jar lid). The ironic juxtaposition of the weighty phrase with a trivial situation creates comedic effect.

Additionally, Gen-Z has developed parodies that play on the formal tone of 历经艰辛. The phrase often appears in mock-slogans or absurdist memes that exaggerate the heroic language typically associated with it. This ironic usage represents a broader trend among young Chinese to subvert traditional authoritative language through humor and self-deprecation.

For serious topics, however, Gen-Z does use 历经艰辛 when discussing genuine social issues or personal struggles. A Weibo post about overcoming depression might legitimately employ the term: 我历经艰辛，终于走出抑郁症的阴影 (Having gone through hardships, I finally escaped the shadows of depression). Here, the weight of 历经艰辛 matches the gravity of the subject matter.

The Hidden Codes: Unwritten Rules

Using 历经艰辛 correctly requires understanding several unwritten social rules that textbooks rarely teach.

First, the phrase should never be used to describe oneself in formal contexts without strong justification. Chinese social norms emphasize modesty (谦虚), and boasting about one's hardships can come across as self-aggrandizing or tone-deaf. If you must discuss your own struggles, it is more culturally appropriate to have others describe you as 历经艰辛 or to use more humble framing like 只是做了应该做的事 (I only did what needed to be done).

Second, 历经艰辛 carries an implicit moral dimension. Chinese culture traditionally values endurance and perseverance as moral virtues. When someone is described as having 历经艰辛, there is often an underlying suggestion that they are stronger, more virtuous, or more deserving of respect because of their suffering. This moral coding explains why the phrase appears so frequently in positive contexts—award ceremonies, commemorative speeches, success stories—rather than neutral or negative ones.

Third, the term creates an expectation of respect. When you describe someone as 历经艰辛, you are implicitly asking your audience to recognize and honor that person's suffering. This makes the phrase a powerful rhetorical tool but also a potentially manipulative one. Demanding respect for suffering can be used to silence criticism or to leverage moral authority beyond what the facts warrant.

Fourth, 历经艰辛 often implies a successful outcome or at least survival. The phrase does not typically describe suffering without resolution. When Chinese speakers say someone 历经艰辛, they usually mean that person has emerged from difficulties—either victorious, wiser, or simply still standing. Pure, unresolved suffering without narrative closure is more often described using expressions like 受苦受难 (to suffer hardship) or 历经磨难 (to go through tribulations).

Example 1

• Chinese Sentence: 老科学家历经艰辛，终于突破了技术瓶颈。

Pinyin: Lǎo kēxuéjiā lì jīng jiān xīn, zhōng yú tūpòle jìshù píngjǐng.

English: The veteran scientist, after enduring tremendous hardships, finally broke through the technical bottleneck.

Deep Analysis: This example demonstrates 历经艰辛 used attributively before a main verb (终于突破了). The phrase establishes the difficulty of the scientist's journey before revealing the successful outcome. The word 老 (lǎo, old/veteran) adds a layer of respect, suggesting that this scientist has paid significant dues over a long career. In English, we might restructure this as “After years of hardship, the veteran scientist finally…” The term helps create a cause-and-effect narrative where suffering leads to achievement.

Example 2

• Chinese Sentence: 创业的道路历经艰辛，但只要坚持就能看到希望。

Pinyin: Chuàngyè de dàolù lì jīng jiān xīn, dàn zhǐyào jiānchí jiù néng kàn dào xīwàng.

English: The path of entrepreneurship is filled with hardships, but as long as you persist, you will see hope.

Deep Analysis: Here, 历经艰辛 describes the abstract concept of 道路 (path/road) rather than a specific person. This metaphorical usage treats entrepreneurship as a journey characterized by difficulty. The sentence structure uses a concessive clause (但只要坚持…) to pivot from difficulty to hope, a common rhetorical pattern in Chinese motivational discourse. The implication is that hardship is not merely an obstacle but a necessary component of the entrepreneurial journey.

Example 3

• Chinese Sentence: 她历经艰辛考入清华大学，成为全村的骄傲。

Pinyin: Tā lì jīng jiān xīn kǎo rù Qīnghuá Dàxué, chéngwéi quán cūn de jiāo'ào.

English: She endured tremendous hardships to gain admission to Tsinghua University, becoming the pride of the entire village.

Deep Analysis: This sentence exemplifies the common narrative pattern of using 历经艰辛 to describe educational achievement in rural or underprivileged contexts. The phrase implies that getting into a top university required not just academic ability but also overcoming practical obstacles—poverty, lack of resources, social barriers. The phrase 全村 (the whole village) signals community pride, reinforcing the moral dimension of 历经艰辛 as virtue rewarded. This usage frequently appears in Chinese news stories celebrating successful students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Example 4

• Chinese Sentence: 中国航天事业历经艰辛，从东方红一号到神舟飞船，走过了辉煌的历程。

Pinyin: Zhōngguó hángtiān shìyè lì jīng jiān xīn, cóng Dōngfāng Hóng yī hào dào Shénzhōu fēichuán, zǒu guòle huīhuáng de lìchéng.

English: China's aerospace industry, having gone through hardships, has traveled a glorious path from Dongfang Hong-1 to Shenzhou spacecraft.

Deep Analysis: In this official narrative context, 历经艰辛 functions as a patriotic framing device. The term connects specific historical achievements (satellite launches, manned spaceflight) to a broader national narrative of struggle and triumph. The phrase 辉煌的历程 (glorious journey) directly follows the acknowledgment of hardship, creating a cause-and-effect relationship where difficulty produces glory. This sentence structure is typical of Chinese official media describing national achievements.

Example 5

• Chinese Sentence: 作为历经艰辛的老兵，他经常给年轻人讲述战争的故事。

Pinyin: Zuòwéi lì jīng jiān xīn de lǎobīng, tā jīngcháng gěi niánqīngrén jiǎngshù zhànzhēng de gùshi.

English: As a veteran who has endured hardships, he often tells young people stories about the war.

Deep Analysis: Here, 历经艰辛 functions as a post-nominal modifier (历经艰辛的老兵) to describe the veteran. The phrase adds moral weight to the person's identity and justifies their authority to teach younger generations. The implication is that those who have suffered possess wisdom and deserve respect. This usage aligns with the traditional Chinese respect for elders and veterans, where hardship is seen as credentialing.

Example 6

• Chinese Sentence: 我们要铭记那段历经艰辛的岁月，珍惜今天的幸福生活。

Pinyin: Wǒmen yào míngjì nà duàn lì jīng jiān xīn de suìyuè, zhēnxī jīntiān de xìngfú shēnghuó.

English: We must remember that period of hardship, and cherish today's happy life.

Deep Analysis: This example uses 历经艰辛 to describe an entire historical period (那段岁月) rather than individual experiences. This collective usage appears frequently in commemorative speeches and patriotic education. The phrase 铭记 (to remember solemnly) signals official or ceremonial context, while 珍惜 (to cherish) indicates the intended emotional response to past suffering. The structure creates a moral lesson: current happiness is meaningful precisely because it follows past hardship.

Example 7

• Chinese Sentence: 这部纪录片讲述了主人公历经艰辛寻找失散家人的感人故事。

Pinyin: Zhè bù jìlù piān jiǎngshùle zhǔréngōng lì jīng jiān xīn xúnzhǎo shīsàn jiārén de gǎnrén gùshi.

English: This documentary tells the touching story of the protagonist going through hardships to find his/her long-lost family.

Deep Analysis: In narrative contexts like film or literature, 历经艰辛 often precedes a goal-directed action (寻找失散家人). This structure emphasizes both the difficulty of the journey and the importance of the destination. The adjective 感人 (touching/moving) signals emotional storytelling, suggesting that the audience should feel sympathy and admiration for the protagonist. The phrase serves a narrative function of preparing viewers for an emotional journey.

Example 8

• Chinese Sentence: 她历经艰辛完成学业，现在已经成为一名优秀的律师。

Pinyin: Tā lì jīng jiān xīn wánchéng xuéyè, xiànzài yǐjīng chéngwéi yì míng yōuxiù de lǜshī.

English: Having gone through hardships to complete her studies, she is now an outstanding lawyer.

Deep Analysis: This example shows 历经艰辛 used in a present-result construction. The past hardship (completing studies) leads to current status (outstanding lawyer). The temporal sequence—hardship in the past, success in the present—follows the expected narrative arc. The word 现在 (now) explicitly marks the transition from suffering to success, reinforcing the moral that perseverance leads to reward.

Example 9

• Chinese Sentence: 登山队员历经艰辛攀登珠穆朗玛峰，虽然没有登顶，但展现了人类挑战极限的精神。

Pinyin: Dēngshān duìyuán lì jīng jiān xīn pāndēng Zhūmùlǎngmǎfēng, suīrán méiyǒu dēngdǐng, dàn zhǎnxiànle rénlèi tiǎozhàn jíxiàn de jīngshén.

English: The mountaineers, after enduring tremendous hardships to climb Mount Everest, although they did not reach the summit, displayed the human spirit of challenging limits.

Deep Analysis: This example is particularly interesting because it subverts the typical 历经艰辛 narrative. Normally, hardship leads to success, but here the climbers failed to reach their goal (没有登顶) yet still receive praise. The phrase 展现了人类挑战极限的精神 shifts the moral lesson from “perseverance leads to victory” to “effort itself has value.” This usage demonstrates the flexibility of 历经艰辛 in contexts where failure is honorable because of the effort involved.

Example 10

• Chinese Sentence: 他们的爱情历经艰辛，经历了战争、分离和误解，最终走到了一起。

Pinyin: Tāmen de àiqíng lì jīng jiān xīn, jīnglìle zhànzhēng, fēnlí hé wùjiě, zuìzhōng zǒu dàole yìqǐ.

English: Their love, having endured hardships, went through war, separation, and misunderstanding, and finally came together.

Deep Analysis: Applying 历经艰辛 to romantic relationships represents an extension of the term beyond professional or historical contexts. The specific hardships listed—war, separation, misunderstanding—represent common obstacles in love stories across cultures. The phrase positions their relationship as valuable precisely because it survived difficulty. The final phrase 走到了一起 (came together/walked together to the end) suggests that love, like a journey, requires endurance to reach the destination.

Example 11

• Chinese Sentence: 公司创始人历经艰辛打造的民族品牌，如今已经走向世界。

Pinyin: Gōngsī chuàngshǐrén lì jīng jiān xīn dǎzào de mínzú pǐnpái, rújīn yǐjīng zǒu xiàng shìjiè.

English: The company founder, after enduring hardships to build a national brand, has now taken it global.

Deep Analysis: This business-focused example uses 历经艰辛 to add legitimacy and emotional appeal to entrepreneurship. The phrase 民族品牌 (national brand) carries patriotic connotations, suggesting that building such a brand represents contribution to national prestige, not just personal profit. The term helps create a narrative where business success serves larger social purposes. The phrase 走向世界 (going global) represents the ultimate achievement, validating all the previous suffering.

Learning to use 历经艰辛 correctly means understanding not just grammar but cultural appropriateness. The following pitfalls represent the most common errors among English-speaking learners.

Mistake 1: Overusing 历经艰辛 for Minor Difficulties

Wrong: 今天上班历经艰辛，因为地铁有点挤。

Right: 今天上班不容易，因为地铁特别挤。

Explanation: This mistake stems from misunderstanding the emotional weight of 历经艰辛. While the literal meaning might seem to fit—experiencing difficulty getting to work—the phrase carries connotations of serious, prolonged hardship. Describing a crowded subway as 历经艰辛 sounds melodramatic to native ears, almost like complaining. The corrected sentence uses 不容易 (not easy) and 特别挤 (especially crowded) to convey the difficulty without overstatement. Remember that in Chinese communication, excessive drama about minor inconveniences can mark you as immature or self-centered.

Mistake 2: Using 历经艰辛 About Oneself in Formal Contexts

Wrong: 我历经艰辛完成了这个项目，感谢大家的支持。

Right: 在团队共同努力下，我们克服了各种困难，终于完成了这个项目。

Explanation: Chinese social norms emphasize group harmony and modesty. Self-congratulation about hardships can seem boastful or insensitive, especially if others also worked hard. The revised version shifts focus from personal suffering to collective achievement, which is more culturally appropriate. If you must mention your own difficulties, consider adding a self-deprecating element or explicitly crediting others. Another option is to have a colleague describe you as 历经艰辛, which carries more legitimacy than self-description.

Mistake 3: Confusing 历经艰辛 with Simply “Having a Difficult Time”

Wrong: 我历经艰辛学中文，因为汉字太难了。

Right: 我费了很多功夫学中文，因为汉字确实很难。

Explanation: While learning any language involves difficulty, 历经艰辛 suggests extraordinary, transformative hardship—typically involving significant obstacles, setbacks, and survival over extended periods. The standard difficulty of studying Chinese characters does not typically warrant such a heavy phrase. Using 费了很多功夫 (spent a lot of effort) or 花了不少时间 (took quite some time) conveys the difficulty more proportionally. Reserve 历经艰辛 for situations involving genuine adversity—poverty, illness, war, discrimination, or major life crises.

Mistake 4: Placing 历经艰辛 in the Wrong Grammatical Position

Wrong: 他历经艰辛，所以成功了。

Right: 他历经艰辛，终于成功了。

Explanation: In Chinese rhetorical patterns, 历经艰辛 typically precedes the outcome and is connected with a result marker rather than a causal conjunction. Using 所以 (so/therefore) creates a purely logical cause-and-effect relationship, which misses the narrative quality of the phrase. Chinese prefers to show the sequence of events and let the audience draw conclusions about causation. The character 终于 (finally/at last) emphasizes the temporal distance between hardship and success, creating the characteristic “long journey” feeling of 历经艰辛.

Mistake 5: Using 历经艰辛 in Casual, Friendly Conversation

Wrong: 周末去爬山历经艰辛啊，下次不去了！

Right: 周末爬山真累啊，下次得准备充分点！

Explanation: Among friends in casual contexts, 历经艰辛 creates an inappropriate formal tone that can feel distancing or exaggerated. Friends sharing experiences typically use more relaxed language: 真累 (really tired), 费劲 (exhausting), 太辛苦了 (too hard). The corrected sentence maintains the complaint about difficulty but uses vocabulary appropriate to friendly banter. The self-directed advice about preparation (得准备充分点) keeps the tone constructive rather than dramatic.

Mistake 6: Mispronouncing the Tones

Wrong: lì jīng jiān xīn (sounds like “lijinjianxin”)

Right: lì jīng jiān xīn (lì with falling tone, jīng with first tone, jiān with first tone, xīn with first tone)

Explanation: Tone errors can make your Chinese incomprehensible or accidentally change meaning. The phrase 历经艰辛 is entirely in non-falling tones except for the fourth-tone 历. Pronouncing it as “lì jīng jiān xīn” with proper tonal contrast is essential for native-sounding speech. Practice the phrase in isolation and in context until the tones feel natural. Recording yourself and comparing with native speakers can help identify subtle tonal issues.

• 千辛万苦 (qiān xīn wàn kǔ) - A four-character idiom literally meaning “a thousand hardships and ten thousand bitters.” Unlike 历经艰辛, which emphasizes the passage through difficulty, 千辛万苦 emphasizes the quantity and variety of suffering. It appears more often in personal narratives and emotional storytelling.
• 饱经风霜 (bǎo jīng fēng shuāng) - Literally “fully weathered by wind and frost.” This term suggests long-term exposure to life's hardships and is often used to describe elderly people or things with historical significance. The tone is more poetic and nostalgic compared to the narrative emphasis of 历经艰辛.
• 艰苦奋斗 (jiān kǔ fèn dòu) - A compound combining “hardship and difficulty” (艰苦) with “struggle and effort” (奋斗). This term emphasizes active struggle and is commonly used in patriotic, political, and motivational contexts. Unlike the observational tone of 历经艰辛, 艰苦奋斗 implies ongoing, active resistance against obstacles.
• 披荆斩棘 (pī jīng zhǎn jí) - Literally “to cut through thorns and brambles.” This term emphasizes aggressive, heroic action in overcoming obstacles. While 历经艰辛 focuses on the experience of hardship, 披荆斩棘 focuses on taking decisive action. It is often used to describe pioneers, leaders, or military heroes.
• 艰难困苦 (jiān nán kùn kǔ) - A four-character compound meaning “difficulties and hardships.” This term functions more as a noun or description of circumstances rather than a narrative of passage. Unlike 历经艰辛, which implies a subject who has survived, 艰难困苦 simply names the conditions without suggesting overcoming.
• 受苦受难 (shòu kǔ shòu nàn) - Literally “to suffer bitterness and experience disaster.” This term emphasizes ongoing or completed suffering without the narrative resolution often implied by 历经艰辛. It is more appropriate for describing victims or unresolved tragedy rather than triumphant survival.
• 苦难辉煌 (kǔ nàn huī huáng) - Literally “suffering and hardship lead to brilliance/glory.” This modern four-character phrase, popularized by a Chinese television documentary series, explicitly links hardship to subsequent glory. It represents the contemporary ideological framing of suffering as necessary for national greatness.
• 梅花香自苦寒来 (méi huā xiāng zì kǔ hán lái) - A classical poetic phrase meaning “the plum blossom's fragrance comes from bitter cold.” This expression uses natural imagery to convey the same philosophical message as 历经艰辛: that hardship is necessary for achievement and that beauty/virtue emerges from suffering.