turn a piece of poor writing into a literary gem

turn a piece of poor writing into a literary gem

It is an idiom in Chinese. Pinyin is di ǎ NTI ě ch é NGJ ī n. originally, it refers to the magic of turning iron into gold with a little finger. Later, it refers to the magic of changing the original text slightly to make it excellent. It comes from Huang Tingjian's answer to Hongju's father in Song Dynasty.

The origin of Idioms

In Huang Tingjian's answer to Hongju's father's book in Song Dynasty, it is said that "those who can write articles in ancient times can really cultivate all things. Although they take the ancient words into calligraphy, they are like a magic pill, which can turn iron into gold."

Idiom usage

It's not difficult for those who know how to make money from iron. It's only 20 or 30 words to change the whole article. (the forty third chapter of Wu Jianren's twenty years of witnessing the strange situation in Qing Dynasty)

Analysis of Idioms

[synonym] turning stone into gold [antonym] turning gold into iron