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民不聊生

Mandarin · pinyin mín bù liáo shēng

(idiom) the people have no way to make a living (from Records of the Grand Historian 史記 Shǐ jì)

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Characters in this entry

民: mín · people, subjects, citizens
不: bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
聊: liáo · somewhat, slightly, at least
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–2–1 · min2 bu4 liao2 sheng1

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

man4 bat1 liu4 sang1

Cantonese word readings for 民不聊生. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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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) the people are living difficult and harrowing lives; the masses live in dire destitution

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

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