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叶公好龙 (ye4 gong1 hao4 long2) - A dragon passion
By Zhang Ciyun |
September 7, 2008, Sunday
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Anywhere around the world you can probably find someone who celebrates the sea, but keeps to the land. In China, people tend to describe the phenomenon by quoting the popular idiom (ye4 gong1 hao4 long2) or "Lord Ye's love of the dragon."
Shen Zhuliang was only the magistrate of Ye in the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). However, he insisted on others calling him "Lord Ye" and was best known for his infatuation with dragons.
His jade pendant was shaped like a dragon. The bowls and drinking cups in his house bore the design of dragons. And even the walls, columns, doors, windows, tables and chairs at his residence were all adorned with drawings and carvings of this legendary animal.
By learning all this, the real dragon in Heaven was very much moved by Lord Ye's love of his kind. Therefore, the dragon decided to pay a visit to Ye's house.
One afternoon, when Lord Ye was taking a nap, the dragon arrived with deafening thunder and violent storms. The official awoke with a start. When he saw a real dragon poking its head through the window and swinging its tail into the hall, he was frightened out of his wits and fainted.
Looking at the house which was fully decorated with drawings and carvings of dragons and the fainted man lying in the middle of it, the real dragon became nonplussed. It was not until a while later that it began to dawn upon this divine animal that what Lord Ye really loved was something resembling, or in the shape of, a dragon, but not the real thing.
Today, this idiom about Lord Ye still has a derogatory connotation. People often cite the saying to describe someone whose professed love of something proves to be a false passion when the reality becomes available. It may also refer to anyone who is all talk and no action.
Shen Zhuliang was only the magistrate of Ye in the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). However, he insisted on others calling him "Lord Ye" and was best known for his infatuation with dragons.
His jade pendant was shaped like a dragon. The bowls and drinking cups in his house bore the design of dragons. And even the walls, columns, doors, windows, tables and chairs at his residence were all adorned with drawings and carvings of this legendary animal.
By learning all this, the real dragon in Heaven was very much moved by Lord Ye's love of his kind. Therefore, the dragon decided to pay a visit to Ye's house.
One afternoon, when Lord Ye was taking a nap, the dragon arrived with deafening thunder and violent storms. The official awoke with a start. When he saw a real dragon poking its head through the window and swinging its tail into the hall, he was frightened out of his wits and fainted.
Looking at the house which was fully decorated with drawings and carvings of dragons and the fainted man lying in the middle of it, the real dragon became nonplussed. It was not until a while later that it began to dawn upon this divine animal that what Lord Ye really loved was something resembling, or in the shape of, a dragon, but not the real thing.
Today, this idiom about Lord Ye still has a derogatory connotation. People often cite the saying to describe someone whose professed love of something proves to be a false passion when the reality becomes available. It may also refer to anyone who is all talk and no action.
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