Tomorrow is Chinese Valentine’s Day, Qixi(七夕, qīxī) again. The love tale of the cowherd and weaver maiden is well known; but besides this legend, do you know any other classic Chinese love stories and their relative idioms or cultural meanings? Follow the article then you will know…
tiān gè yī fāng天各一方 We won’t bother to talk about the story again on the occasion of Qixi. Long ago, Zhi Nv, the weaver maiden was the youngest daughter of the Queen of Heaven. Niu Lang was a poor cowherd, driven out of home by his elder brother and his wife. Niu Lang had a friend who was a magical cow. One day, the cow told him a way to find a nice girl as his life companion.
Niu Lang went to the riverside that evening under the guidance, where Zhi Nv was there bathing with her sisters who slipped out from heavenly palace. The two saw each other and fell in love. Zhi Nv did not go back with her sisters to heaven.
The Queen of Heaven was angry and had to bring Zhi Nv to heaven. Niu Lang was very sad. He listened to his friend cow to make its cowhide into shoes and flew to sky to see her but punished by the Queen as a fairy maiden could not marry a human being. Finally they are only allowed to meet each other once every year on a bridge built by magpies across the Milky Way.
Therefore, 牛郎织女，天各一方(niúlángzhīnǚ，tiāngèyīfāng) means that the couple live far apart which is difficult for them to see each other. For example:
Děng yìqíng jiéshù，tāmen yě néng jiéshù niúlángzhīnǚ tiāngèyīfāng de shēnghuó le。 等疫情结束，他们也能结束牛郎织女天各一方的生活了。When the pandemic is over, they will be able to end the life of living apart from each other.
shuǐ màn jīn shān 水漫金山 Once upon a time on Mount Emei there lived two snake spirits, White Snake and Green Snake who turned themselves into beautiful ladies and set off on a journey to the West Lake. They met a man called Xu Xian. White Snake quickly fell in love with him and they were soon married. A Buddhist monk, Fa Hai, warned Xu Xian of his wife’s deceptive appearance and suggested a plan.
The plan was to persuade the White Snake drink realgar wine, what people use to exorcise evil spirits on the day of Dragon Boat Festival. White Snake had to accept a cup. She became very ill afterwards and turned into a giant snake. Xu Xian shocked so much that he collapsed.
White Snake set off on a journey for the medical herb to revive her husband. After returning, Xu Xian recovered but kept being enticed by Fa Hai. The two snakes had to seek help from spirits of the water. They had a battle against Fa Hai. But finally trapped and lost freedom under Lei Feng pagoda.
水漫金山(shuǐmànjīnshān) is a trick that White Snack used to deal with Fa Hai: to flood the Jinshan Temple with water. Now the term is used as a metaphor meaning everything is flooded. Zhè bàoyǔ xià de yīlóu dōu kuài shuǐmànjīnshān la！
这暴雨下得一楼都快水漫金山啦！The storm was so heavy that the ground floor is almost flooded.
bǐ yì shuāng fēi比翼双飞 You must have heard of many stories like a girl disguised as a boy falling love with another boy. Yes, a lot of movie or novel still enjoying refering to the prototype of Liang Zhu. Zhu Yingtai in man’s suit set out to Hangzhou and studied at school because in old time girls are not allowed to go to school with boys. One of her classmates, Liang Shanbo was so smart and knowledgable that they were like old friends for first sight.
Yingtai felt she loved Shanbo after three year’s studying together but had to leave when finishing study. Few months later, Shanbo went to visit her and found her a girl with surprise. So he sent a matchmaker to her parents for getting the permission of marriage. However, Yingtai’s father already accepted the proposal of another man from the rich. Shanbo was super sad. He became seriously sick then passed away.
Knowing Shanbo’s death made Yingtai in low spirits. On the day of the wedding when she was escorted in a sedan, they happened to pass by Shanbo’s tomb. The party had to stop as the wind blew hardly suddenly. Yingtai cried saidly in front of the tomb then jumped into the tomb before anyone else could realize it. The wind ceased and two butterflies flying out of the tomb danced beautifully in the sun.
The idiom 比翼双飞(bǐyìshuāngfēi) describes love between the couple who are not separated from each other. They appear side by side in career, daily life or any occasions.
Wǒ zhùyuàn nǐmen fūfù zài shìyè shàng bǐyìshuāngfēi! 我祝愿你们夫妇在事业上比翼双飞!I wish you couple can proceed shoulder by shoulder together in your career!
