Chinese idiom · 成语
惜墨如金
Meaning
To cherish ink like gold; valuing words sparingly.
Character by character
Origin and story
artistic traditionThe painting anecdote collection Diaoji Litan describes Li Cheng, the landscape painter also known as Li Yingqiu, as treating ink as preciously as gold. The image concerns control of the brush, not the market price of ink. A passage preserved in Nancun Chuogeng Lu explains a related method: build a landscape with light washes, then use darker ink selectively to bring out its forms and distances. Restraint could therefore produce richness rather than emptiness. The expression later extended beyond painting to writers who choose a few effective words instead of filling the page.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
他写产品介绍时惜墨如金，三句话就讲清了重点。
He writes product descriptions sparingly: three sentences explain the key points.
Usually praises economical, effective writing or painting; it can also suggest excessive brevity.