Old, But More Vigorous in Spirit

Characters:

Pronunciation: lao(3) dang(1) yi(4) zhuang(4)

Explanation: Said of someone who is more spirited when he/she grows older.

The Story: In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Ma Yuan. He had been planing to herd animals in the frontier since he was young. When he grew up, Ma became a minor official of a county.

Once he was sending some prisoners to another location. He felt pity for them so he set them free, and then he himself fled to another county in the north. He herded animals there and thus his dream came true. He always said: "If you want to be a great man, the poorer you are, the firmer in spirit you have to be; the older you are, the more spirited you should be."

Later, Ma Yuan became a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty and contributed to many battles.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Wo(3) ye(2) ye lao(3) dang(1) yi(4) zhuang(4)

Usage Example (English translation): My grandfather is old but more vigorous in spirit.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.