Known by Every Family

Characters:

Pronunciation: jia(1) yu(4) hu(4) xiao(3)
Explanation: Said of something that is widely known.

Tone: Positive

The Story: Long long ago, there was a women named Liang. One day her family's home caught fire and both her brother's child and her own child were inside her house. She rushed into the smoky house and wanted to take her brother's child first, but when she came out, she found that was her own baby. At that time, the fire was becoming stronger and stronger. People suggested she give up, but she exclaimed: "I must go! If this is known by every family, they will think I am very selfish. I will be ashamed to face them." After saying this, she ran into the burning house.

She never came out from the house and was killed by the fire.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Zai(4) zhe(4) ge(4) zhen(4), ta(1) de mei(3) mao(4) jia(1) yu(4) hu(4) xiao(3)

Usage Example (English translation): Her beauty is known by every family in this town.

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.