tiān​yá​zhǐ​chǐ

close despite the distance

天涯咫尺 tiān​yá​zhǐ​chǐ
close despite the distance
A metaphor describing people who are far apart but whose thoughts or feelings make them feel as if they are right before one's eyes
distant despite being close
Describing people who are physically near each other but have no opportunity to meet, feeling as if they are at the opposite ends of the earth
a small world
The world has become small; distance is no longer an obstacle

Frequency

Written text
0.046 per million

Sources

Frequency data
BCC Corpus (BLCU)