康庄大道

Origin and story

In the Shiji's biography of Mencius and Xun Qing, the king of Qi honors scholars by giving them official standing and fine residences on broad, accessible streets. The passage calls these roads 康庄之衢. It belongs to the account of the intellectual community associated with Jixia, where scholars were treated as valued participants in public discussion.

The later expression 康庄大道 retains that image of an open, well-connected road. Wang Yangming uses the exact wording in a comparison about driving a carriage along the proper route. From a literal thoroughfare, the phrase developed the figurative meaning of a promising, straightforward path toward worthwhile progress.