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人走茶涼

简人走茶凉 · 繁人走茶涼

Mandarin · pinyin rén zǒu chá liáng

lit. when people leave, the tea cools (idiom)
fig. when sb is no longer in a position of power, others cease to care about him

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Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
走: zǒu · walk, go on foot; run; leave; Kangxi radical 156
茶: chá · tea
涼: liáng · cool, cold; disheartened
凉: liáng · cool, cold; disheartened

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Mandarin tones

2–3–2–2 · ren2 zou3 cha2 liang2

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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.

人走茶涼 · find source passages ↗ · 人走茶凉 · find source passages ↗

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

proverb

When a man loses his power, he loses the praise, respect or flattering as well. / the superficiality of human relationships

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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