Chinese characters and pinyin
Simplified: 读万卷书，行万里路
Traditional: 讀萬卷書，行萬里路
Pinyin: dú wàn juàn shū, xíng wàn lǐ lù
Literal translation
Read ten thousand volumes; travel ten thousand li.
Natural English meaning
Deep learning combines books with direct experience of the world.
Closest English equivalent
Travel broadens the mind.
The Chinese saying gives equal weight to reading and travel; the English one highlights travel alone.
When to use it
Use it to advocate combining study with observation and experience.
When not to use it
The numbers are rhetorical and not a literal requirement.
Example sentence
研究建筑既要读书也要实地考察，读万卷书，行万里路。
To study architecture, combine books with seeing buildings in the world.
Origin and cultural context
The paired ideal developed in late imperial writing from earlier praise of extensive reading and travel.
Classification: proverb. This label distinguishes a complete proverb or popular saying from a compact idiom or a quotation preserved from a classical text.
