#95 Learn Chinese Idiom on Mother's Day - the Story About Mencius' Mother 孟母三迁 | 摄影月旦评

Photo taken by me at a Buddhist temple in central Sri Lanka

Hey fellow Steemians,

How's your weekend going? I've been teaching Mandarin to non-native speakers for over 10 years, and now I'm working with @cn-reader to introduce Chinese language and culture. Today is Mother's Day, so let's learn a Chinese idiom about mother's love.

In this post, we will have a look at 孟母三迁(mènɡ mǔ sān qiān), which literally means "Mencius' Mother Relocated Three Times".

孟/mèng : family name of 孟子/mèngzǐ (Mencius)
母/mǔ : mother
三/sān : three
迁/qiān : move, relocate

So why does she do that and what is this idiom used for? Let's first check out the original story:

Mencius was a well-known ideologist and politician in ancient China, who was seen as the second saint in the School of Confucianism after Confucius. This story is about Mencius' mother who relocated their homes 3 times, to offer a better environment for little Mencius.

When Mencius was a kid, their first home was close to a cemetery, so little Mencius copied the behavior of the tomb visitors and cried a lot. Mencius' mom didn't want that, and they moved to downtown, close to a market. Then little Mencius started to copy the vendors in yelling to sell produce and products (personally I don't think it is that bad - can be good for his entrepreneurial spirit, but yeah it's in ancient China...). So his mom relocated again - their new neighbor was a butcher from whom the son tried to learn how to kill pigs (oh nooo...). After some careful consideration, Mencius' mom picked their new home by a school. This time it seemed to be a great choice, as her son studied frequently in the school and learnt good manners as well. From then on, they stayed living in that place, and Mencius eventually grew to be a great person.

So this story shows mother's love to her child. In order to find a good place for the child's growing, parents tend to sacrifice a lot ever since ancient China. Today, Chinese use this idiom to describe the same situation - a mother or parents do whatever they can for a better living of their child, especially when it comes to education.

Example Sentence：

“孟母三迁，择邻而居” 说明了中国重视教育环境的传统。

“孟/mèng 母/mǔ 三/sān 迁/qiān ，择/zé 邻/lín 而/ér 居/jū ” 说明/shuōmíng 了/le 中国/zhōngguó 重视/zhòngshì 教育/jiàoyù 环境/huánjìng 的/de 传统/chuántǒng。

Meaning: Mencius' mother relocated three times to choose their neighbor. This shows the tradition of how Chinese people value their children’s education.

Photo taken by me at a Miao minority village in south-western China

大家好！因为今天是母亲节，而我教过多年对外汉语，所以我们来学个跟母爱有关的成语：孟母三迁。

孟子是中国古代战国时期一位有名的思想家和政治家。这个故事讲的是孟子小时候，母亲为了给他提供良好的教育环境而搬家三次。

起初孟子的家靠近墓地，所以他就模仿去上坟的人的祭奠亡灵的动作，还常常哭丧。母亲看到后觉得不能让孩子在这样的地方住下去，于是他们就搬去城里。新家就在集市旁边，小孟子又开始模仿商人叫卖东西，孟母觉得这里也不适合居住，于是继续搬家。这次的家靠近一户屠夫，结果小孟子学习屠杀的样子还是让孟母十分担心。最后，孟母思索再三，把家迁到书塾附近，这回小孟子开始常去书塾学习，饱读诗书，而且跟着读书人们学得很有礼貌。孟母看到后很欣慰，觉得这才是适合孩子居住的地方。孟子在母亲的悉心教导下，逐渐成长为一位大圣人。

这个故事充分体现了伟大的母爱。父母总是为了子女的成长全心付出，不求回报。现在，人们通常使用这个成语来形容父母为了孩子能够接受良好的教育或生活在舒适的环境中而煞费苦心。

例句：

“孟母三迁，择邻而居” 说明了中国重视教育环境的传统。

“孟/mèng 母/mǔ 三/sān 迁/qiān ，择/zé 邻/lín 而/ér 居/jū ” 说明/shuōmíng 了/le 中国/zhōngguó 重视/zhòngshì 教育/jiàoyù 环境/huánjìng 的/de 传统/chuántǒng。

All content above by @itchyfeetdonica

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Here is the story from a Youtube channel:

What do you think of this story? Can you make a new sentence with this idiom? Feel free to share what you think in the comments! See you next time. =)