S5E01 | Everything’s Good | 好好先生
Saying: “Mr Goody-goody”
Pinyin: Hǎo Hǎo Xiānshēng
Chinese: 好好先生
We're back with another season of wonderful and useful chengyu's for your Chinese sayings repertoire. Everyone knows this one. Well, maybe not everyone but it's pretty well-known. We ended last season in the Later Han Dynasty and that's where we'll start Season 5.
Though this story was written during the Ming dynasty it concerns the 3rd Century character Sima Hui 司马徽. He was the original Hǎo Hǎo Xiānshēng 好好先生 who lived not to upset anyone or take a contrarian stance against anything that was ever said to him (by anyone).
Don't forget, the Chinese terms from CSP episodes are all listed for you down below.
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Terms in Episode
| Pinyin/Term | Chinese | English/Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hǎo Hǎo Xiānshēng | 好好先生 | Mr. Good-Good, someone who never disagrees about anything and trying to walk the middle road |
| Hǎo | 好 | Good |
| Xiānshēng | 先生 | Mister |
| Sīmǎ Huī | 司马徽 | Early 3rd century hermit in Sichuan. Had a reputation as a good spotter of talent. He is the Hao Hao Xiansheng |
| Gǔ Jīn Tán Gài | 古今谭概 | A book of essays written by the late Ming Dynasty literary figure, Féng Mènglóng 梦龙 |
| Páng Tǒng | 庞统 | 179-214, Pang Tong was an advisor to Liu Bei. Sima Hui spotted him right away as a man of talent. |
| Zhūgě Liàng | 诸葛亮 | 181-234, a.k.a. Kongming, Crouching Dragon, Statesman, diplomat, strategist |
| Liú Bèi | 刘备 | 161-223, Eastern Han warlord and later King of Shǔ during the Three Kingdoms period |
| Luó Guànzhōng | 罗贯中 | 1330-1400, early Ming Dynasty author who wrote The Romance of the Three Kingdoms |
