The Story
English
The Han dynasty official Qiao Xuan was praised for his character: "A hundred setbacks, not one retreat." The phrase "百折不挠" (a hundred bends, not one break) became the Chinese idiom for unbreakable resolve — the person who bends under pressure but never snaps.
中文
桥玄曰：「百折不挠。」
Original Classical Chinese · 原文
桥玄曰：「百折不挠。」
Reflection & Analysis · 寓意解读
Core Wisdom
The bamboo bends in the storm but does not break. The one who endures a hundred setbacks without retreating is stronger than the one who has never faced one.
This idiom celebrates a specific kind of resilience: not the rigidity that shatters, but the flexibility that endures. The "hundred bends" acknowledge that setbacks are real and painful — but the "not one break" affirms that they are not final.