破天荒 — “To do something unprecedented”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 破天荒?

指从来没有出现过的事。

破天荒 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to do something unprecedented”. To occur for the first time; to break new ground. Literally, “Break the sky's wilderness”.

Frequency

破天荒 Pronunciation and Pinyin

破天荒 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
破	pò	10	break, destroy, or defeat
天	tiān	4	sky, heaven, day, nature
荒	huāng	10	desolate, uncultivated, or neglected

Example Sentence with 破天荒

他竟然主动帮助别人，这真是破天荒头一回。

He actually took the initiative to help others; this is truly an unprecedented occurrence.

Origin and Story of 破天荒

During the Tang Dynasty, for over 50 years, no scholar from Jingzhou had succeeded in the imperial examinations in the capital to become a *jinshi* (a successful candidate). Thus, Jingzhou was referred to as 'Tianhuang' (heavenly wilderness/barrenness).

It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Xuānzong of Tang that Liu Rui, a scholar from Jingzhou, passed the imperial examination, thus 'breaking the Tianhuang'.

Cui Xuan, Duke Weiguo of Jingzhou, specially rewarded him with 700,000 *qian* (coins). Liu Rui refused the reward and replied in a letter: 'For fifty years, it was due to human neglect; how could a thousand *li* away be called 'Tianhuang' (barren)?'