天高皇帝遠

Mandarin

simpl.		天高皇帝远
trad.		天高皇帝遠

Etymology

Literally: Heaven is high (above, and the) emperor is far (away)

Idiom

天高皇帝遠 (traditional, Pinyin tiān gāo huángdì yuǎn, simplified 天高皇帝远)

1. describes remote areas beyond the control of a central government
   • 2000: anon, 咨询型法治与中国国情 (The control of information and China's national mood)

     傳統的中國是“一盤散沙”，名義上是“專制國家”，其實是個“天高皇帝遠”的“文化範疇”。

     Traditional China was a loose confederation. Nominally, it was an "autocratic state," but actually belonged to a "category of civilizations" whereby "remote areas were beyond the control of a central government."

References

• "天高皇帝遠" (in Mandarin), Guoyu Cidian On-line Mandarin Dictionary (國語辭典). URL accessed on 2009-05-24.

External links

• Google hits: .cn
• Google hits: .tw