Idiom or Proverb Per Day, 酒池肉林
酒池肉林, jiu3 chi2 rou4 lin2. Directly the characters mean pools of wine and forest of meat.
酒, noun. wine.
池, noun. pool.
肉, noun. meat.
林, noun, forest.
This idiom came from a king who was cruel and licentious. He was King Zhou (纣王, zhou4 wang2), the last king of the Shang Dynasty (商朝, shang1 chao2, BC 1600~BC 1046). He was famous for his luxurious and corrupted life. To what degree did he lead a debauched life? 酒池肉林 was one of the typical examples. For the sake of having fun, he ordered to dig many pools pouring fully with good wine, and hang much delicious meat onto the trees of forest. Then, he had boys and girls nakedly running and playing in the pools and forest, and they could enjoy the wine and meat immediately they wanted.
So this idiom 酒池肉林 is used to describe someone’s life is extremely luxurious and debauched.
E.g. 那些暴发户一有钱就只会过酒池肉林的生活,根本不知道如何让自己的事业更上一层楼。