This kid is definitely going places someday. I could see a little Yo Yo Ma in him.

My comments:

Imagine village life in the olden days of China. People seldom venture out of their village or their township. They never have a chance to see the outside world.

In other words, they never get a chance to GO and visit different PLACES.

In our example, by saying the kid is someday going places, the speaker means to say the boy/girl has a future professionally.

By likening the kid to Yo Yo Ma, who, though an ethnic Chinese, was actually born in Paris instead of a small Chinese city in the middle of nowhere.

Anyways, imagine the said kid becoming another cello player of world renown and imagine seeing him/her in New York, where Yo Yo Ma resides.

Or does Yo Yo Ma currently reside in the Big Apple?

I am not sure. With people who are going places, it doesn’t really matter.

So long as you know they’re going places.

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本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（张欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.