2014年9月24日星期三

Stories of Chinese word and term (14)

屐齿之折 the tooth of geta has broken. Today, we think that geta is a footwear from Japan. Yet it was started from China. The original geta looked like clogs. The Japanese used the same character for it as the Chinese did. At beginning there was a tooth in front of the geta to hold the over long Chinese robe not to be stepped on. In the year 383 there was a war between 东晋and 前秦. 东晋sent eighty thousand soldiers to meet 前秦’s eight hundred thousand soldiers. Everyone believed that 东晋 would lose the war, but the result is on the contrary, they won. When the news of victory arrived at the supreme command, the marshal 谢玄 who was a civil officer, was playing the game of go. After he read the report, he kept on playing, as if nothing had happened.
After a while his opponent asked him, “What happened?” 
The answer was, “Nothing, my children had won the war for me.”
His manner was calm. But later when he moved to leave, he kicked on the threshold and broken the tooth of his geta.


Calm is a main virtue of Chinese people. Later this term means calm and hidden the inner happiness. 
 Pic from: http://www.chinaculture.org/img/2007-07/03/xinsrc_250704031012194311659.jpg
And: http://amuseum.cdstm.cn/AMuseum/ancitech/science/image/01/s1a_ad03_s01.jpg

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