进
jìn
进: getting hired and getting better are the same step
The picture A foot crosses one threshold: what was outside is now inside. 出 is what was inside crossing the line outward; 进 is what was outside crossing the line inward.
Where the picture shows up in 进
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step through the door
请进，坐吧。
qǐng jìn, zuò ba
Come in, have a seat.
A foot comes over the threshold and touches the floor inside for the first time.
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step inside an organization
我上个月刚进这家公司。
wǒ shàng ge yuè gāng jìn zhè jiā gōngsī
I joined this company last month.
You pass the front gate, put the badge around your neck, and sit down at a desk inside.
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goods come in
这批货今天早上进来了。
zhè pī huò jīntiān zǎoshang jìn lái le
This shipment came in this morning.
Boxes come off the truck and get carried past the shop door and stacked inside.
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one step forward
他的中文进步很快。
tā de zhōngwén jìnbù hěn kuài
His Chinese is improving fast.
Today's footprint lands one step ahead of where you were standing yesterday.
进步 is literally 'a step taken inward/forward'.
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go into the inner room
病人已经进手术室了。
bìngrén yǐjīng jìn shǒushùshì le
The patient has already gone into the operating room.
The bed rolls through the door at the end of the corridor and into the operating room.
All of it in one picture
进 is a foot crossing one line into the inside. Cross the threshold and you're in the room; cross the front gate and you belong to the company; cross the shop door and those boxes are the shop's stock now. 进步 is the same foot: today's step lands one line ahead of where you stood yesterday. So every 进 keeps the same shape — a boundary crossed, and one place moved inward or forward.