chengyu and xiehouyu.doc

Chengyu and xiehouyuI always believe that my Chinese is good enough to understand most of the chengyu. So when I began to write this essay, I did not spend too much time on searching the meaning of chengyu until one of my friends sent me a joke. He said the meaning of 不学无术 was never spend time on learning something less practical. After listening, I didnt find the punch line because my understanding to the phrase is quite similar to the joke. I was shocked after that and search 不学无术 on line, which origin and meaning are very complex.Chengyu are phrases which Chinese people have long used. And they are concise and comprehensive. Chengyu have their origins and also some evolutions. Without the background knowledge of the sources, people can hardly understand the meaning of chengyu, let alone the use of them. There are thousands of chengyu in Chinese language, and the origins are complex. In general, nine origins can be found in the history of language.Some chengyu come from ancient Chinese legends and fable stories, such as 守株待兔 (stand by a stump waiting for more hares to come and dash themselves against the stump-trust to chance and windfalls), 愚公移山 (the foolish old man removed the mountains-with dogged perseverance), 精卫填海 (the mythical bird trying to fill up the sea with pebbles-dogged determination to achieve ones purpose), etc. Every idiom and allusion contains colorful Chinese history culture.For example, 邯郸学步 comes from a story of Zhuangzi. A man from Yan State goes to Zhao State in order to learn how to walk. Consequently he doesnt learn what he wants, but forgets his original gait. Finally he has to crawl home with hands. This phrase is used to satirize people who want to imitate others but get nothing.Another example is 掩耳盗铃. A man in Jin State wants to steal a clock. The clock is too heavy to carry, so he decides to crush it by a hammer. But another problem happens, if the clock rings loudly, neighbours will hear. The man stops his own ears, and believes that other people cant hear the ring. Certainly people hear the ring and catch the thief. This idiom used to satirize those who use very clumsy ways to deceive others. Some chengyu are quoted from sentences in ancient books. Such as 不学无术 is derive from History of Han. Huo Guang, a senior general, is in positions of authority. Because of his high place, his families are pampered and their life is luxury. After Huo dies, his offspring try to overthrow the predominance of Han Emperor but fail. The whole family is killed. The writer Ban Gu made a comment “霍光不学亡术，暗大于理”The sentence means that Huo is ignorant, and he does not understand the sense of the big picture. It is certainly different from the meaning in the joke. 水落石出 is short for Su Shis poem “山高月小，水落石出”. The sentence is used to describe the scenery originally, while today it is for the facts of the situation finally reveals.出类拔萃 comes from “出乎其类，拔乎其萃”.Religion is also a source of chengyu. In China, Buddhism account for the majority. 当头棒喝 is an example. Monk Huang Bi always hits the freshmen with a stick or shouts sharply. By these ways, he asks the disciples to answer the questions as soon as possible in order to test their understanding to the Buddhism.借花献佛 and 放下屠刀，立地成佛 are also comes from the Buddhism.Some chengyu are produced from peoples daily life, and become popular among the people. This kind of chengyu is vivid and easy to be understood. Such as 欢天喜地、得过且过、七嘴八舌, etc.Chengyu are different from other kinds of idiomatic expressions because of the following characteristics. Structural stability requires that chengyu cant be reversed randomly or changed. Such as 理直气壮 cant be written as 气壮理直。画蛇添足 is a chengyu but 画蛇添脚 isnt. Integrity of significance is another feature. Most of chengyu consist of four characters, which integrate highly and express a complete meaning. The meaning of a chengyu surpasses the meaning of its characters. Without knowing this point, people always made mistakes.杯水车薪 is that people go to the office and enjoy cups of tea, at the end of the month, he can get large amount of salary and buy a car. Of course it is a joke, so chengyu cant be understood separately. Whats more, many chengyu have deep meaning. They come from legend or fable stories, and evolve from specific things. This kind of chengyu cant be understood from the superficial meaning. For example, 画蛇添足 means making an unnecessary move and making things worse, not just something about snake.Chengyu are larger and more complex than word, whats more, the significance of chengyu are richer than word. But the function of chengyu is the same as word. Chengyu can be used as a subject, a predicate, an object and so on.In China, well-educated people tend to speak more chengyu when they are talking than those who have less educational experience. But another kind of Chinese idiom is welcomed by people in every class. That is xiehouyu.Xiehouyu is created by the common people and it plays an important role in the constitution of Chinese idioms. “Xiehou” first appeared in zhengqing biography, and it was called xiehouyu officially in Song Dynasty. Xiehouyu is consisted of two elements. The former is called protasis which is descriptive and the latter apodosis which is usually unstated and carries the message. To some extent, xiehouyu is similar to the riddle, and the latter part is the answer.According to the content, xiehouyu can be categorized into two groups: with pun and with figurativeness. Pun is always involved in xiehouyu. In this case the latter part always contains two meanings, one is derived from the first part, and the other is the deep meaning which is also the real meaning. For example, 人家给个棒槌 我就认做 “针”, this one can be translated as I am too ignorant, blunt and tactless, always getting hold of the wrong end of the stick. Here “针” means “真”. The two characters share the same pronunciation so it seems like a trick of homonym.Figurativeness can also be seen in xiehouyu. In this kind of xiehouyu, the metaphorical meaning is deep and people have to guess its meaning. Generally speaking the former part is just the literal meaning, and the deeper meaning is hided in the latter. For example, 兔子尾巴长不了，which can be translated as the tail of a rabbit-cant be long. This xiehouyu means that something wont last long.Xiehouyu has existed for such a long time and it wont be unaltered. Some are circulated from ancient Chinese and some are created in the new age. So the features of xiehouyu are quite different from chengyu.Xiehouyu has epochal character. Some xiehouyu which appear in the early time cant be seen anymore because they are obscure, while some new xiehouyu are developed. For example: 网外捉鱼捞外快，means catch fishes outside-get extra income. “外快”is a new word which is the product of the modern time, so is this xiehouyu.Xiehouyu has national charac