During the mid-Tang Dynasty, the renowned poet Meng Jiao, born into poverty yet diligent and talented from childhood, repeatedly failed the imperial examinations from youth to middle age, his official career perpetually stalled.
Despite his dire poverty—unable even to support his own family—he remained upright and refused to curry favor with the powerful. Determined to rise through merit alone, he devoted himself to rigorous study, hoping to open the gates of officialdom with genuine talent and learning.
In 797 AD, during the Tang Dynasty's Zhenyuan era, the poet Meng Jiao, then forty-six years old, finally passed the imperial examination after decades of struggle. Overjoyed, he donned new clothes, tied on colorful ribbons and a red flower, and rode a tall horse through Chang'an, reveling in the city's beauty and his triumph. This inspired his famous poem "After Passing the Examination":
The past hardships are not worth boasting about.
Today, the boundless imperial grace stretches without end.
Riding on the spring breeze, his horse galloped swiftly, and in his heart, he was filled with triumphant joy.
After passing the imperial exams, the poet Meng Jiao, once a struggling scholar, rode through Chang'an's streets in wild joy, exclaiming, "I've seen all the flowers of Chang'an in a single day!" This phrase, from his poem "After Passing the Examination," captures the exhilaration of sudden success and has become a timeless expression of triumph over hardship.
This poem means: The poverty and hardship of the past are nothing to boast about; today, having passed the imperial exam, I truly feel the emperor's boundless grace. Joyfully riding my horse through the spring breeze, I took in all the beautiful sights of Chang'an in a single day.
This poem vividly captures the poet's ecstatic joy after passing the imperial exam, with the lines "In spring breeze, proud and swift on horseback, I see all Chang'an's flowers in a single day" becoming timeless verses.
Meanwhile, people derived two idioms from this poem: "Flower-Gazing on Horseback" and "Spring Breeze of Success." The latter originally described the elation of scholars passing exams, but now generally refers to the smug satisfaction of achieving one's goals.
The idiom "Walking Horse, Viewing Flowers" originally described a proud and joyful mood. Now it is used to mean hastily observing things without depth, or conducting a superficial investigation or visit, or briefly experiencing life at the grassroots level.
Source: Meng Jiao (Tang Dynasty), "After Passing the Imperial Examination"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "走马看花" came to describe how one person's strength cannot reverse a crumbling situation.