力争上游 — Chinese idiom

Meaning

• to strive for mastery ; aiming for the best result
• to have high ambitions

Character by character

• 力lìstrength, power; capability, influence
• 争zhēngto dispute, to fight, to contend, to strive
• 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to attend; prev
• 游yóuto wander, to travel, to tour, to roam

Idioms sharing a character

• 不自量力 bù zì liàng lì
• 不遗余力 bù yí yú lì
• 全力以赴 quán lì yǐ fù
• 力不胜任 lì bù shèng rèn
• 力不从心 lì bù cóng xīn
• 力所能及 lì suǒ néng jí
• 力挽狂澜 lì wǎn kuáng lán
• 力排众议 lì pái zhòng yì
• 力尽神危 lì jìn shén wēi
• 勉力而为 miǎn lì ér wéi

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.