马到成功 – Ma Dao Cheng Gong – Immediate Success

Chengyu

马到成功 – mǎ dào chéng gōng

Chinese Character Break Down

马 – horse
到 – to arrive
成功 – to succeed, success

马到成功: succeed right upon arrival (with a horse)
For lack of a better literal translation. Strictly speaking this Chengyu of course translates as “horse arrives, suceed”.

Idiom Meaning

This Chengyu means to win instant success, to gain an immediate victory.

Chengyu Examples
那位老演员二十年后卷土重来，马到成功。
nàwèi lǎoyǎnyuán èrshíniánhòu juǎntǔ chónglái, mǎdàochénggōng.
20 years later, the old actor had a very successful comeback.

不管怎么样，让我们祝他马到成功。
bùguǎn zěnméyàng, ràng wǒmén zhù tā mǎdàochénggōng.
Anyway, let’s wish him every success.

In addition to the second example, a great way to use this Chengyu is generally:

祝大家马到成功！
zhù dàjiā mǎdàochénggōng!
I wish you all success!

Chengyu Story and Background

To be honest, I wasn’t able to get the story. I found it in Chinese, but it seems to me that an accurate translation really requires a lot of background knowledge and mastery of the Chinese language. So if any experts or natives are reading this, feel free to chime in and leave a comment! The Chinese original is below.

As far as I understand it, the Chengyu derives from a legend called “秦皇拜石” – a story about the first Qin emperor visiting a place that in the story is reffered to as “花斑彩石” – literally “flower spot, magnificent rocks” – in the second year of the Qin dynasty. It also brags about Qin Shi Huang’s incredible military forces.

I guess he went somewhere and conquered that place really quick – basically right after he entered the place on his horse.

Let’s solve this together!

这个成语的出处正是出自“秦皇拜石”的传说。
前面说了，秦始皇于统一全国的第二年，即公元前220年来荣成成山头拜日途中，听说花斑彩石是女娲补天时遗落的神石，能保佑江山稳固，便专程礼拜花斑彩石。当时他率领万马千军，沿着修好的专用驰道，直奔花斑彩石所在处，恭敬而拜。回朝后果然事事如意，天下太平，便龙颜大喜，让百官做诗庆贺。当时便有术士徐福（就是后来出海求仙不归的徐福老先生）诗曰：“万马千军御驰道，始皇拜石得成功。”可惜当时这首文采一般的贺诗没得到秦始皇的青睐和众人的喝彩。但花斑彩石所在的附近沿海却因此称之为“马道”。“马道”地名的出处一是秦始皇曾率万马千军到此拜石，二是秦始皇东巡所修驰道由此经过。一直到了元朝，著名大作家关汉卿慧眼识宝，由“秦皇拜石”的典故创造出了“马到成功”这个成语。他在《五侯宴》这部作品中第一次提到他创造出了“马到成功”这个成语。
由于通俗易懂，朗朗上口，现在已成了人们最喜爱的成语之一。但这“马到成功”成语的最初创作素材来源，却是出自我们荣成马道的花斑彩石，出自“始皇拜石”的传说。