Parading on the Streets

Characters:

Pronunciation: Zhao(1) Yao(2) Guo(4) Shi(4)

Explanation: Meaning to attract attention by conspicuous behavior

Tone: negative

The Story: At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius from the state of Lu set out on a tour to various states with his fellows to win acceptance of his political views.

First he came to the state of Wei. Duke Ling, the governor of Wei, ignored the state affairs and left the power to his wife, Nan Zi, who had bad virtue. When she received Confucius, she made the jade ornaments on her clothing very noisy when she moved around. Wei was a state with strict observance of etiquette and Nan Zi's behavior resulted in all kinds of disputes and criticism.

One month later, Confucius rode in a carriage with Duke Ling and Nan Zi together to parade through the streets. People on the streets didn't approve of this. Being embarrassed very much, Confucius left Wei with lots of complaints and shame.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Na(4) ge(4) jun(1) guan(1) mei(3) ri(4) zhao(1) yao(2) guo(4) shi(4), ren(2) men(2) hen(3) tao(3) yan(4) ta(1).

Usage Example (English translation): That officer paraded through the streets every day, and people disliked him a lot.

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.