DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

上有天堂，下有蘇杭

简上有天堂，下有苏杭 · 繁上有天堂，下有蘇杭

Mandarin · pinyin shàng yǒu tiān táng , xià yǒu Sū Háng

lit. there is heaven above, and there is 蘇杭 Sū Háng below (idiom)
fig. the beauty and affluence of Suzhou and Hangzhou is comparable with heaven

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

上: shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
有: yǒu · have, own, possess; exist
天: tiān · sky, heaven; god, celestial
堂: táng · hall; government office
下: xià · under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
蘇: Look up this written character
杭: háng · cross stream; navigate
苏: sū · revive, resurrect; a species of thyme; transliteration of 'Soviet'

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Connected dictionary

7character links1source reference

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

上有天堂，下有蘇杭 · find source passages ↗ · 上有天堂，下有苏杭 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗