Man of Wood with a Heart of Stone

Characters:

Pronunciation: Mu(4) Ren(2) Shi(2) Xin(1)

Explanation: Said of a man of strong will unmoved by temptations.

The Story: Grand Councellor Jia Chong of the Western Jin was once on a excursion admiring spring scenery in the capital Luoyang. Suddenly, he saw a strange man sitting in a small boat near the bank of a river. Solemn in expression, the man seemed to be quite unperturbed by the sights and noises around him. The man was in fact named Xia Tong, a hermit who detested the vulgar practices of the mundane world and was determined to preserve his own purity. His mother was seriously ill and he had come to the capital to buy medicine.

Jia Chong started to talk with this man and found that Xia Tong was a man of lofty ideals, talented and having no desire for honour and glory, he told Xia that he would like to recommend him for an official post. Xia suddenly became angry and refused to talk with him anymore after hearing it. Jia Chong thought: "Well, how can a man not be tempted by position, honour and women?" So he called over a bevy of beautiful women, who began to sing and dance around Xia Tong. But Xia was quite unmoved, sitting steadily in the boat with an expression of indifference on his face. Jia Chong then said to his followers: "This fellow is really a man of wood with a heart of stone." Saying so, he had no alternative but to depart.

Usage Example (Pinyin): zhi(3) you(3) mu(4) ren(2) shi(2) xin(1) de ren(2) bu(3) hui(4) bei(4) ta(1) de hua(4) gan(3) dong(4).

Usage Example (English translation): Only a man of wood with a heart of stone would not be touched by her words.

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.