迢迢千里 — “To be extremely far away”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 迢迢千里?

迢迢：遥远的样子。形容路途遥远

迢迢千里 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be extremely far away”. Over a vast distance; a long and arduous journey. Literally, “Thousands of li distant”.

Frequency

迢迢千里 Pronunciation and Pinyin

迢迢千里 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
迢	tiáo	8	distant and remote
迢	tiáo	8	distant and remote
千	qiān	3	thousand, many
里	lǐ	7	inside, village, unit of length

Example Sentence with 迢迢千里

他们为了共同的理想，不畏艰辛，迢迢千里来到这里。

For their shared ideals, they traveled thousands of miles to this place, undeterred by the difficulties.

Origin and Story of 迢迢千里

Legend has it that during the Han Dynasty's Emperor Ming's reign, two scholars, Zhang Shao from Nancheng, Ruzhou, and Fan Shi from Shanyang, Chuzhou, journeyed together to Luoyang for the imperial examinations.

They became sworn friends, promising to reunite at Zhang Shao's home on the Double Ninth Festival the following year.

However, Fan Shi, delayed by business, failed to keep the appointment and, out of regret, took his own life. His soul, traveling a vast distance, went to meet Zhang Shao.

Upon learning of his friend's death, Zhang Shao also journeyed a great distance to pay his respects to Fan Shi's body, and then tragically took his own life as well.