实地

• Pinyin: shí dì
• Hanzi breakdown: 实 = 宀 + 贯 (solid, actual, real); 地 = 土 + 也 (ground, earth, location)

Meaning

On-site; on the ground; in person at the actual location. Conducting an activity at the real place rather than remotely or theoretically.

Used as an adverb modifying verbs like 考察 (investigate), 检查 (inspect), 调研 (survey), 勘察 (survey the land), 走访 (visit). Emphasises directness, authenticity, and firsthand experience as opposed to relying on reports, data, or secondary sources. Common in official inspection contexts, academic fieldwork, and engineering site surveys.

Examples

1. 环保督察组深入工厂实地检查污染排放情况，现场取样并与企业自报数据进行逐项核对。 The environmental inspection team went deep into the factory for an on-site check of pollution emissions, taking samples and verifying them item by item against the company’s self-reported data.
2. 这位学者没有停留在文献资料的搜集整理，而是亲赴偏远山区实地走访，获取了大量第一手田野调查数据。 The scholar didn’t stop at collecting and organizing written sources; instead, they traveled to remote mountain areas for on-the-ground visits and obtained a large amount of firsthand fieldwork data.
3. 规划部门在方案定稿前组织专家小组实地勘察，对地形地貌、土壤条件和水文特征进行了全面评估。 Before finalizing the plan, the planning department organized an expert team for an on-site survey, conducting a comprehensive assessment of the terrain, soil conditions, and hydrological characteristics.

Usage Guide

Context: inspection, fieldwork, research, engineering, official investigation

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 审计小组将于下周对各分公司的财务管理情况进行实地审核，请各部门提前整理相关账目和原始凭证，做好迎检准备工作。(The audit team will conduct on-site reviews of the financial management of each subsidiary next week; all departments are asked to organise relevant accounts and original vouchers in advance and prepare for the inspection.)
• 在正式发布灾后评估报告之前，研究团队已对受灾最严重的三个县域进行了为期两周的实地调研，访谈了逾五百名受灾居民。(Before formally publishing the post-disaster assessment report, the research team had conducted two weeks of on-site investigation in the three most severely affected counties, interviewing more than five hundred affected residents.)

Don't Say

• 实地 as a noun meaning 'real ground/terrain' — it functions as an adverb modifying a verb (实地考察, 实地走访); to refer to actual terrain use 实际地形 or 现场

Origin & History

实 (actual, real) + 地 (ground, location, site)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal