Mao Sui Recommending Himself

Characters:

Pronunciation: Mao (2) Sui(2) Zi(4) Jian(4)

Explanation: Describing a person who often recommends himself for a task.

Tone: positive

The Story: During the Warring States Period, the state of Qin attacked Handan, the capital of Zhao. The king of Zhao sent his younger brother, Prince Pingyuan, to seek help from Chu. The Prince decided to pick twenty men who were both talented in literature and good at kongfu. But he could only find 19 such men. At this point, retainer Mao Sui walked to Prince Pingyuan and said, "Let me go then."

Prince Pingyuan asked: "How long have you been with me?"

" Three years," Mao Sui answered.

Prince Pingyuan said, "A man of ability is like an awl in a cloth bag. Its point soon pierces through the bag. You have been here with me for three years but yet nobody has mentioned you to me. You had better stay behind!"

Mao Sui replied, "This is because you never treat me as an awl and put me into your bag. If you have had it, the whole awl, not just its point, would have pierced through. "

Prince Pingyuan was convinced and accepted his request.

As soon as they arrived in Chu, Pingyuan talked with the king of Chu on uniting with his great forces to resist Qin. The king of Chu was unwilling to help, so the meeting dragged on for a long time and no agreement was made. Mao Sui walked to the king of Chu. He analyzed the pros and the cons of the whole issue and finally the king was convinced and agreed to help Zhao.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Wo(3) mao(2) sui(2) zi(4) jian(4), jie(1) shou(3) le gong(1) si(1) de xin(1) xiang(4) mu(4).

Usage Example (English translation): Like Mao Sui recommending himself, I handled the new project the company just launched.

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.