Chinese idiom · 成语
热血沸腾
Meaning
Hot blood boils; passionate enthusiasm.
Character by character
Origin and story
Modern figurative expressionThe expression turns bodily heat and boiling into an image of intense emotion. 热血 suggests ardor or willingness to give oneself to a cause; 沸腾 makes that feeling seem to surge beyond containment. A documented modern use occurs in Liu Baiyu's Hong Tai Yang Song, where it describes people's passionate resistance to national subjugation.
That example shows the expression functioning as emotional rhetoric, not as a literal statement about blood temperature. In present-day language it also describes the excitement stirred by a stirring speech, a courageous achievement, or a sporting contest. This attestation establishes usage but does not securely identify the earliest coiner of the phrase.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
看到队员们最后一刻逆转比分，我激动得热血沸腾。
Seeing the players turn the score around at the last moment filled me with excitement.
Intense enthusiasm or stirring emotion, rather than ordinary happiness.