The structure 起初…才…
"First... and then..."
The structure 起初…才… 
emphasizes that a situation has changed.
The initial situation is placed in the first part of a sentence, and the new situation is placed in the second part of a sentence.
emphasizes that a situation has changed.
The initial situation is placed in the first part of a sentence, and the new situation is placed in the second part of a sentence.Scheme
起初
initial situation
才
new situation
A subject can be placed before or after 起初.
If the subject is placed in the second part of a sentence, it must come before 才. It cannot be placed after 才.
Examples
他起初没明白，后来才理解了游戏的规则
He didn't understand the rules of the game at first, but later he understood them
tā qǐchū méi míngbai, hòulái cái lǐjiěle yóuxì de guīzé
我们起初不想参加的，只是不好意思拒绝，才去了那里
Initially, we didn't want to participate in it. However, we went there because we were embarrassed to turn it down
wǒmen qǐchū bù xiǎng cānjiā de, zhǐshì bù hǎoyìsi jùjué, cái qù le nàli
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