Rising Again From the East Mountain

Characters:

Pronunciation: Dong(1) Shan(1) Zai(4) Qi(3)

Explanation: Said of making a comeback

Tone: Positive

The Story: Xie An from the East Jin Dynasty was talented and well-known ever since he was young. The court tried to appointed him to a position in the public offices many times, but he turned them down. He led a quiet life in East Mountain and spent his time enjoying nature and composing poems and verses with Wang Xizhi and some other poets.

Later, the Grand General of the Western Expedition, Huan Wen, asked him to serve as a military governor. Having no way out, Xie An accepted the post. At that time, he was over 40. When He departed for the expedition, all the civil and military officials came to see him off. Someone joked with him: "You disobeyed the court to be an official many times. We never expected you to rise again from the East Mountain." On hearing this, Xie An was very embarrassed and ashamed. After Huan Wen died, Xie An became the prime minister.

Usage Example (Pinyin): chen(2) mo(4) liang(2) nian(2) hou(4), ta (1) jue(2) ding(4) dong(1) shan(1) zai(4) qi(3), jian(4) li(4) yi(1) ge(4) xin(1) gong(1) si(4).

Usage Example (English translation): After two years' silence, he decided to rise again from the east mountain and set up a new business.

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.