Insisting
on Having One's Own Way
| Characters: |
 |
Pronunciation:
Yi(1) Yi(4) Gu(1) Xing(2)
Explanation:
Implying that one acts willfully
without regarding the bad conditions and other
people's opinion
Tone:
Neutral
The Story: Zhao Yu of the Western Han
Dynasty was a subordinate of Grand Chancellor
Zhou Yafu.
After
the revolt of the seven states of Wu and Chu,
Zhou Yafu was promoted to the illustrious
post of Prime Minister, and Zhao Yu became
Assistant to the Prime Minister and later
the Imperial Censor.
All
the high officials in those days kept a group
of sycophants in their houses. Zhao Yu was
honest in performing his duties. Since the
day he became an official, he had never kept
any hangers-on in his house and he insisted
on doing things in his own way. He refused
to do any favour for the nobles and other
officials in their private affairs. Sima Qian,
the author of the Records of the Historian,
said that he "clung obstinately to his
own course."
Usage
Example (Pinyin): Qing(3) bu(3) yao(4)
zai(4) yi(2) yi(4) gu(1) xing(2) le, fou(3)
ze(2) wo(3) men(3) hui(4) shang(1) xin(1)
de.
Usage
Example (English translation): Please
do not insist on having your own way like
this, otherwise you will offend us.
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.
