鸣金收兵 — “To signal a temporary cessation of an activity or battle”

鸣金收兵 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to signal a temporary cessation of an activity or battle”. Metaphorically, to call a halt or end something for the time being, often implying a strategic withdrawal or pause. Literally, “Sound gongs to withdraw troops”.

Frequency

鸣金收兵 Pronunciation and Pinyin

鸣金收兵 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
鸣	míng	8	make sound
金	jīn	8	gold, metal, money
收	shōu	6	receive, collect, or put away
兵	bīng	7	weapon, soldier, military affairs

Example Sentence with 鸣金收兵

经过一上午的激烈讨论，大家觉得应该鸣金收兵，下午再继续。

After a morning of intense discussion, everyone felt it was time to call a halt and continue in the afternoon.

Origin and Story of 鸣金收兵

In ancient times, armies on the march or in battle relied heavily on 'gongs' (金) and 'drums' (鼓).

Drums were beaten to signal movement and attack, a command known as '鳴鼓而攻' (ming gu er gong, beating drums to attack).

Conversely, gongs (or similar percussion instruments) were struck to command troops to stop or retreat, hence '鳴金收兵' (ming jin shou bing, striking gongs to withdraw troops).

This practice of beating drums to attack and striking gongs to retreat was widely adopted across various dynasties.

By the Ming Dynasty, there were even times when both gongs and drums were sounded simultaneously.