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以工代賑

简以工代赈 · 繁以工代賑

Mandarin · pinyin yǐ gōng dài zhèn

to provide work to relieve poverty

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Characters in this entry

以: yǐ · by means of; thereby, therefore; consider as; in order to
工: gōng · labor, work; worker, laborer
代: dài · replace, replacement (of person or generation); era, generation
賑: Look up this written character
赈: zhèn · relieve, aid distressed; rich

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

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Mandarin tones

3–1–4–4 · yi3 gong1 dai4 zhen4

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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.

以工代賑 · find source passages ↗ · 以工代赈 · 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to use or create job opportunities to replace relief measures

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

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