山高皇帝遠 (saan1 gou1 wong4 dai3 jyun5) — free from restriction due to the distance from the authority (lit. the mountain is tall and the emperor is far away) in Cantonese
saanˉ¹山gouˉ¹高wongˎ₄皇dai˗₃帝jyunˏ₅遠简 山高皇帝远
Mandarin Pinyin: shan1 gao1 huang2 di4 yuan3
Meaning of 山高皇帝遠
nounfree from restriction due to the distance from the authority (lit. the mountain is tall and the emperor is far away)
nounwhile the cat is away, the mice will play;
nounliterally, the mountain is high, emperor far away, he cannot control. nowadays, it means far away and unreachable by the central government (management); it is difficult to get justice