Chinese idiom · 成语
铸剑为犁
Meaning
Forge swords into plows; peace over war.
Character by character
Origin and story
Religious image and peace symbolismTurning weapons into tools for farming is an image of replacing destruction with the work of sustaining life. A prominent textual source for the international 'swords into ploughshares' image is Isaiah 2:4, which envisions nations ceasing to fight and turning their weapons into agricultural implements. Modern Chinese uses 铸剑为犁 for the same peaceful transformation; the precise first use of these four Chinese characters is not established here.
The image is also embodied in Evgeniy Vuchetich's bronze sculpture at the United Nations, donated by the Soviet Union in 1959. A man raises a hammer over a sword being reshaped into a ploughshare. The sculpture illustrates the aspiration, rather than documenting a completed end to war.
In everyday life
这场展览以铸剑为犁为主题，呼吁把战争资源用于重建家园。
The exhibition takes swords into ploughshares as its theme, calling for wartime resources to be used to rebuild homes.
A formal peace metaphor for redirecting military resources toward constructive civilian purposes.