Meaning: Mining.
It comes from a seven-character quatrain "Ode of Lime" written by Yu Qian, a politician and writer in the Ming Dynasty. This poem expresses one's aspirations through objects and uses symbolic techniques. It is literally a chant of lime, but it actually uses objects to describe people and expresses the poet's noble ideals.
The whole poem is as follows:
Thousands of hammers carved out the mountains, and the fire burned them as if nothing happened.
Don’t be afraid of your bones being shattered into pieces, you must remain innocent in this world.
The translation is as follows:
Limestone can only be mined from the mountains after thousands of hammerings, and it treats the burning of raging fire as a very common thing.
Even if your body is broken into pieces, you are not afraid, and you are willing to leave your innocence in the world.
Extended information:
Creative background
Yu Qian has studied hard since he was a child and has great ambitions. It is said that one day, he strolled to a lime kiln and watched the masters calcining lime. I saw piles of blue-black rocks, which turned into white lime after being burned by the raging fire. He was deeply touched and wrote this poem after thinking about it for a while.
About the author
Yu Qian (1389～1457), a minister of the Ming Dynasty. His courtesy name was Tingyi, a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). In the 19th year of Yongle (1421), he became a Jinshi. He first served as censor and served as minister of the Ministry of Officers and Soldiers. In the 14th year of Zhengtong (1449), Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty was captured by the Wala. Yu Qian supported and established Emperor Jing of the Ming Dynasty, repelled the invasion of the Wala, and defended Beijing, making his contribution to the annals of history.
Baidu Encyclopedia——Lime Yin