Chinese idiom · 成语
闻鸡起舞
Meaning
To rise and train at the rooster’s crow; to be diligent and ambitious.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical accountJin Shu (晉書), volume 62, describes the close friendship of Zu Ti and Liu Kun while they served as officials in Sizhou. Sharing a bed, they heard a rooster crow in the middle of the night. Zu Ti kicked Liu Kun awake, said the sound was not an evil omen, and rose to perform martial practice.
The passage connects the incident with the friends’ ambitions in a troubled age. It is a nighttime episode, not specifically a dawn alarm, and the short original does not describe a documented daily training schedule. The later idiom celebrates energetic self-discipline and readiness to act in pursuit of a serious aim.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
为了准备比赛，她拿出闻鸡起舞的劲头，每天清早去训练。
Preparing for the competition, she showed determined discipline and trained early every morning.
Alludes to diligent ambition; a real rooster or martial art is unnecessary.