Tā jiègǔfěngjīn, pīpíng le xiànshí zhōng de bùgōng zhèng xiànxiàng.
He used the past to satirize the present, criticizing injustices in current society.
Tips
usage
讽 is typically found in compounds: 讽刺 (fěngcì, to satirize/irony), 讽喻 (fěngyù, allegory/satire), 嘲讽 (cháofěng, to mock). Rarely used alone in modern speech.
The speech radical on the left marks 讽 as something done with words — satirising, mocking, or in classical use, reciting aloud. It indexes 讽 with the speech family: 说 say, 谈 chat, 讲 explain, 谋 plan, 谣 ballad — every verb of articulate communication.
风 supplies the sound fēng → fěng, a small tone shift. It also adds a soft semantic flavour: ancient critics styled their satire as "wind" — light, pervasive air that carries criticism without confrontation, just as 风 carries seed and rumour. Same phonetic in 沨 sound of water, 枫 maple.
