I came across this Chinese proverb today. I am completely confused as to its usage. Funny imagery though. I couldn't find a picture to do this proverb justice either. Maybe it is just a way to express one's anger.
怒发冲冠 nù fà chōng guān lit. hair stands up in anger and tips off one's hat
No wanchi, you're wrong. It's from the Shiji. It's the story where during the 戰國時代 the King of Qin (秦) offered 15 cities to Zhao (趙) for a particularly precious type of jade. The King of Zhao didn't trust the King of Qin's intentions and sent his most trusted minister (藺相如) to deal with the situation. When the minister found out that the King of Qin was indeed bluffing, he got very angry, hence the expression. This story is also behind another chengyu, 完璧歸趙, "to return something intact to its rightful owner".
(There's actually another source sometimes mentioned, from the Zhuangzi (but the choice of characters is slightly different, while the Shiji uses the exact same characters as in the chengyu), describing how Confucius once went to meet the Robber Zhi (corrected from "Shi"), who was none too happy to see Conficius, and got very angry. Confucius barely made it back to Qufu alive, and this story is behind yet another chengyu, 虎口餘生 "to barely escape with one's life")
Yeah, one of my friends said you use it when you're really angry.
ReplyDeleteits actually from a poem in ancient China in which the poet expressed his anger towards foreign invasion.
ReplyDeletewanchi
No wanchi, you're wrong. It's from the Shiji. It's the story where during the 戰國時代 the King of Qin (秦) offered 15 cities to Zhao (趙) for a particularly precious type of jade. The King of Zhao didn't trust the King of Qin's intentions and sent his most trusted minister (藺相如) to deal with the situation. When the minister found out that the King of Qin was indeed bluffing, he got very angry, hence the expression. This story is also behind another chengyu, 完璧歸趙, "to return something intact to its rightful owner".
ReplyDelete(There's actually another source sometimes mentioned, from the Zhuangzi (but the choice of characters is slightly different, while the Shiji uses the exact same characters as in the chengyu), describing how Confucius once went to meet the Robber Zhi (corrected from "Shi"), who was none too happy to see Conficius, and got very angry. Confucius barely made it back to Qufu alive, and this story is behind yet another chengyu, 虎口餘生 "to barely escape with one's life")