青雲直上 (Qīngyúnzhíshàng)

[Daimashin]

青雲直上 (Qīngyúnzhíshàng) - Became high and powerful fast.

Literal meaning - Straight towards the clouds.

During the Warring States, in the Kingdom of Yi was a famous man named "範睢"(Fàn suī). One day he was framed by a corrupted official and being accused of plotting with the Kingdom of Qi. He escaped to the Kingdom of Qin. The King of Qin admired his talents and appointed him the Prime Minister. Years later, Kingdom of Yi sent Fàn suī's old friend to negotiate a peace. Fàn suī decided to pay his old friend a visit and pretended that he was now a peasant working for the Prime Minister. His old friend still saw him as a friend and offered food and clothes to him. Fàn suī told his friend that he can get the Prime Minister to meet with him and so he followed Fàn suī into the Prime Minister's residence. After waiting for a while, Fàn suī emerged and revealed that he was the Prime Minister all along. His friend praised him and said, "After all these years, I never knew that you have 'Skyrocketed into the clouds'."

青雲直上 (Qīngyúnzhíshàng) means someone has become high and influential.

Example:

"多年不見沒想到你「青雲直上」當了丞相. 真的恭喜你!"

[linguaholic]

That is a lovely idiom! I will try to use this one in the near future, hehe.  :grin: Hmm, first of all, I will need to find someone that I truly admire, though :=)

[Edwinrai]

Wow. There's so much history behind that single idiom and it's a fantastic story as well. I too will have to find someone I admire and maybe look for a good moment to use this idiom. Fine post.

[Miya]

I've seen of this idiom before, but I didn't know the story. Thanks for sharing, it was really interesting.