Chinese idiom · 成语
云开雾散
Meaning
Clouds part, fog scatters; clarity emerges.
Character by character
Origin and story
Poetic imageLu Dian's Song-period poem To Wang Junyi, preserved in the first volume of his Tao Shan Ji, praises a scholar's dedication to learning and the power of his writing. It compares the movement of his brush to pouring rain and thunder, then describes the clouds opening and mist dispersing into clear weather. Flowers, trees, and distant mountains emerge in the following lines. The changing weather is part of a sustained literary comparison, not an account of a particular storm ending.
The familiar phrase turns this visible clearing into a metaphor for doubts, resentment, or gloomy circumstances passing away. The poem supplies an attested use and illuminating context, without establishing the phrase's first invention.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
把误会说清楚后，两人心中的疑虑终于云开雾散。
After they cleared up the misunderstanding, the doubts in both their minds finally lifted.
Use when confusion or gloom clears; also possible as a literal description of weather.