萬變不離其宗

many superficial changes but no departure from the original stand (idiom); plus ça change, plus ça reste la mème chose

surname Wan

ten thousand / a great number

to change / to become different / to transform / to vary / rebellion

no; not so / (bound form) not; un-

surname Li

to leave / to part from / to be away from / (in giving distances) from / without (sth) / independent of / one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦[ba1 gua4], symbolizing fire / ☲

his / her / its / their / that / such / it (refers to sth preceding it)

school / sect / purpose / model / ancestor / clan / to take as one's model (in academic or artistic work) / classifier for batches, items, cases (medical or legal), reservoirs