乘风破浪 (chéng fēng pò làng): Ambition, Sailing and Examples

A forward-moving image with two uses

The simplified and traditional forms are 乘风破浪 and 乘風破浪. The dictionary pinyin is chéng fēng pò làng, second, first, fourth and fourth tones. 乘风 means taking advantage of the wind, and 破浪 advancing through waves.

The official entry records a literal sailing use and a figurative use describing great ambition and courageous advance through difficulty. [1] For the figurative use, “press forward boldly” or “face the challenges ahead with ambition” may be clearer English than making the reader imagine a literal boat.

Check the verb and setting. A boat can be moving through waves in a narrative. A person can express a wish to advance. Neither wording automatically says that every obstacle has already been overcome.

Zong Que expresses a wish, not a completed voyage

The consulted source is Songshu, volume 76, the biography of Zong Que. This is the history associated with the Liu Song period of the Southern Dynasties, not a claim about the later Song dynasty. When his uncle Zong Bing asks about his ambition, Zong Que says he wishes to ride the long wind and break through waves stretching ten thousand li. [1]

The wording 願乘長風破萬里浪 begins with a wish. The excerpt does not report that he completed a ten-thousand-li sailing expedition. The familiar four-character expression condenses the image of large ambition.

The entry separately records 長風破浪 and a later Li Bai line under that related form. That later poetic attestation is useful context, but it does not make Li Bai the certain inventor of 乘风破浪 or turn every quotation into the same exact wording.

Original sentences distinguish a scene from an aspiration

These examples are invented; the first describes a fictional novel.

小说中的帆船乘风破浪，朝远处的海岛驶去。

“The novel’s sailing boat advances through wind and waves toward the distant island.” The boat, movement and destination make the literal image clear. This is a language example, not a report of an actual voyage.

即使新刊的筹备困难不少，我们仍愿乘风破浪，把计划一步步做实。

“Although preparing the new magazine involves many difficulties, we still hope to press forward boldly and make the plan workable step by step.” 愿 marks aspiration. The sentence commits to work without pretending the magazine has already succeeded.

When reporting a finished result, name it separately: “首期已完成校对”, “the first issue has finished proofreading.” That observable milestone is more precise than asking the idiom alone to prove completion.

Ambition, movement and evidence of a result

The sailing image can sound energetic and elevated. Use a plainer statement for routine actions if the image adds no useful meaning. It need not decorate every email about a small task.

Forward ambition differs from repeated resilience

百折不挠 emphasises remaining unyielding despite setbacks. 乘风破浪 can look toward a difficult future before repeated failures have occurred. A sentence may support both, but each highlights a different part of the story.

卧薪尝胆 has another emphasis: deliberate self-discipline in response to a remembered setback or humiliation. The shared broad topic of effort does not erase these differences in image, time and motive.

Does a wish prove the journey is over?

Original exercise: A learner translates “我们愿乘风破浪” as “We have already overcome every obstacle.” Does the Chinese sentence supply that completed outcome?

The source-reading guide helps keep a source quotation’s original verb visible when explaining an allusion.