meaning of idiom 风生水起

[sagilogo1]

I came across this idiom in the following sentence:

"我们的外交事业可以说是风声水起、有声有色"

BTW, I found an explanation (Google 风声水起是什么意思) that says this is rooted in a folk story about fishermen that had no firewood and had to eat the fish raw, and then this became a name for a cooking style.. but even if this is a relevant answer I'm still not sure I understand how this idiom is used today and in this sentence in particular.

This one is really intriguing to me, I hope someone can shed some light!

Edited April 1, 2010 at 02:18 PM by sagilogo1

[Kenny同志]

风生水起：波浪随风而起。比喻事情做得特别好, 或事业发展特别快,能迅速壮大起来。

The allusion which is made connected with this set phrase on a bunch of websites seems irrelevant to it. Also, none of the sources is authoritative. To me, the above explanation makes more sense. However, I am not sure as the definition cannot be found in a dictionary.

Edited April 1, 2010 at 02:14 PM by kenny2006woo

[sagilogo1]

I just noticed in that website that 风声水起 should actually be written 风生水起 - with 生水 for "unboiled water"

[mr.demoman]

风-noun 生-verb 水-noun 起-verb

nothing related to "unboiled water" here.

means prosperous.

[skylee]

風生水起 means being prosperous.