晏子使楚

Yànzǐ shǐ Chǔ
proper noun

Meanings

  1. 1 Yanzi's Mission to Chu, the story of the Qi minister Yanzi turning the king of Chu's insults back on him

Examples

HSK 4
《 Yànzǐ shǐ Chǔ 》 jiǎng de shì Yànzǐ chūshǐ Chǔguó de gùshi.
Yanzi's Mission to Chu tells the story of Yanzi going to the state of Chu as an envoy.
HSK 7-9
Xué le 《 Yànzǐ shǐ Chǔ 》, wǒmen dōu pèifú Yànzǐ de kǒucái.
After studying Yanzi's Mission to Chu, we all admired Yanzi's quick tongue.

Tips

culture
The king of Chu tries three times to humiliate 晏子. Shown a small side gate because he is short, Yanzi says only an envoy to a land of dogs goes in by a dog's door. Asked whether Qi has no better men, he says Qi sends its worthy men to worthy kings and its worthless ones to worthless kings. Shown a thief from Qi, he answers that an orange tree grown south of the Huai bears oranges but north of it bears bitter fruit, 橘生淮南则为橘, so it must be the land of Chu that makes men thieves.
history
The story comes from the 晏子春秋, a Warring States collection of anecdotes about him, and is a primary school text.

Stroke Order

晏 Yàn
子 zǐ
使 shǐ
楚 chǔ