Origin of the chengyu
闻鸡起舞 ('hearing the rooster, rising to dance the sword') — from 《
晋书·
祖逖传》, describing Zu Ti and his friend Liu Kun drilling daily at dawn. Also the source of
中流击楫 ('striking the oar midstream'): on his northern expedition he struck the oar on the Yangtze vowing he would never recross alive without having retaken the north.
