Home 禄 Feature 禄 Art and Culture
No matter what happens, true friendship perseveres
Print Edition
THE English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon (1561-1626) once said: “Without friends, the world is but a wilderness.”
Small wonder that Chinese, like nearly all other languages in the world, have sayings describing bosom buddies and true friendship.
One of the most widely quoted expressions about true friendship in Chinese comes from a poem written by Wang Bo (AD 650-676) of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), after he bade farewell to his best friend, who was to take up an office in a remote area.
Two lines from the poem read hainei cunzhiji, tianya ruobilin, or literally “if you have a bosom friend in the world, no matter how far away he is, the two of you would be just as close as next-door neighbors.”
In other words, good friends are good friends, no matter how far away they are from each other.
Or more simply put, distance cannot keep two bosom friends apart.
Another popular saying, suihan zhi songbai, huannan jian zhenqing, can be roughly translated as “cold winter reveals the ever greenness of the pine and cedar; misfortune tests the sincerity of friends.”
The second Chinese saying here echoes the English expression, “a friend in need is a friend indeed.”
So, it’s only when you are at the nadir of your life that you find out who are your true friends and who are just fair-weather friends.
From these two Chinese proverbs, one may conclude that true friendship prevails over distance and adversities.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
