S8E01 | Wouldn't Change a Thing
Saying: “one word worth a thousand in gold”
Pinyin: Yī Zì Qiān Jīn
Chinese: 字千金
Welcome back to another season of Chinese Sayings. For the Season 8 opener, we open with a well-known and useful chengyu: Yī Zì Qiān Jīn 一字千金. The story behind this classic from The Record of the Grand Historian features the infamous Lü Buwei, Lady Zhao, and the father of the future first emperor of China, King Zhuangxiang. The Qin State and Dynasty yielded up some fantastic chengyu's over the years. And this is sure one of them. Stay cool everyone, especially all ya'lls in Arizona. Thanks as always to Emma in China's capital.
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Terms in Episode
| Pinyin/Term | Chinese | English/Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Sìzì Chéngyǔ | 四字成语 | A Chinese Saying or idiom of four characters |
| Měi Rì Yī Cí | 每日一词 | The word of the day |
| Yī Zì Qiān Jīn | 一字千金 | A Thousand Taels of Gold for one character |
| Lǚ Bùwěi | 吕不韦 | Chancellor of Qin State from 251-235. He was a merchant from Zhao who was able to worm his way to the top levels of the Qin government |
| Qín Shǐhuáng / Yíng Zhèng | 秦始皇 / 嬴政 | 259–210 BC, founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor (始皇帝) of the Qin dynasty from 221 to 210 BC. His self-invented title "emperor" (皇帝 huángdì) would continue to be borne by Chinese rulers for the next two millennia. |
| Lǚ Bùwěi lièzhuàn | 吕不韦列传 | The biography of Lǚ Bùwěi, a chapter from The Record of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian |
| Yī | 一 | One |
| Zì | 字 | A character (or letter) |
| Qiān | 千 | One thousand |
| Jīn | 金 | Gold, metal, money |
| Wèy State | 卫国 | Zhou-era state in northeast Henan that is usually spelled W-E-Y to differentiate it from the more consequential and way more powerful and much bigger state of Wèi. |
| Wèi State | 魏国 | Wei was created following the Partition of Jin, together with Han and Zhao. Wei was located between the states of Qin and Qi and included parts of modern-day Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong. |
| Hándān | 邯郸 | A city in southwest Hebei province that borders Henan, Shanxi and Shandong |
| Zhào | 赵国 | The Warring State of Zhao, that emerged from the division of Jin State, along with Han and Wei, in the 5th century BC. Its territory included areas in the modern provinces of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi. |
| Yíng Yìrén | 赢异人 | A Qin prince living in Zhao as a diplomatic hostage who later beame King of Qin |
| King Xiàowén of Qín | 秦孝文王 | Xiaowen was the second son of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. He was a king for three days before being poisoned to death (by Lü Buwei, some claim). He was the grandfather of the First Emperor of Qin |
| Zhào Jī | 赵姬 | A concubine of Lü Buwei who he passed to the future Qin King Zhuangxiang. She later gave birth to Ying Zheng, the future first emperor China |
| King Zhuāngxiāng of Qín | 秦庄襄王 | Prince Yiren of Qin (see above). Zhuangxiang reigned as Qin King 250-247 BC |
| Luòyáng | 洛阳 | One of the ancient capitals of China, located where the Luo and Yellow River join, in western Henan province |
| Hénán | 河南 | Province in northern China |
| Chǔ | 楚国 | Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland until it was destroyed by the Qin in 223 BC during the Qin's wars of unification. Chu included most of the present-day provinces of Hubei and Hunan, along with parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. |
| Qí | 齐国 | Qi was a powerful state located in present day Shandong. It was the last of the Seven Warring States to fall to Qin in 221 BC |
| Xiányáng | 咸阳 | Present day Xian, it was the capital of the Qin State and Dynasty |
| Xīān | 西安 | Capital of Shaanxi Province and a whole bunch of dynasties going back to antiquity |
| Lǚshì Chūnqiú | 吕氏春秋 | Master Lǚ’s Spring and Autumn Annals, an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 BC under the patronage of Lü Buwei. |
| Qín | 秦国 | Ancient Zhou Dynasty state. Traditionally dated to 897 BC. Following extensive "Legalist" reform in the fourth century BC beginning with Shang Yang and Duke Xiao, Qin emerged as one of the dominant powers of the Seven Warring States and unified the seven states of China in 221 BC under King Ying Zheng (Qin Shi Huang). It established the Qin dynasty, which was short-lived but greatly influenced later Chinese history. |
