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Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
In 632 BC, Duke Wen of the Kingdom of Jin was about to lead an army against the forces of the Kingdom of Chu.
The Duke asked one of his advisers, Jiu Fan, how they could win the impending battle, as they were drastically outnumbered.
Jiu Fan said, “All is fair in war,” and suggested a plan of dishonorable tactics (cheating).
The Duke was unsure of this advice, so he asked another adviser, Yong Ji, who replied, “If you catch fish by draining the pond, you can certainly get all the fish. But there will be no fish the following year. You can cheat this one time in battle, but such tactics can only be used once, as the enemy will be wise in future encounters.”
The Duke heard the words of his wiser adviser but cheated to gain victory in the battle. However, he rewarded Yong Ji more than Jiu Fan at the victory celebration, stating that while Jiu Fan's advice gained one victory, the wise words of Yong Ji would last forever.
This Chinese idiom/proverb is still used, over 2600 years later to remind people not to burn bridges, cheat, or dishonor themselves in exchange for a short-term gain while sacrificing the future.
竭澤而漁 is very similar to the meaning of the English phrase, “Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
沈魚落雁 is an old proverb that literally means “fish sink, goose alights.”
...But this takes some explaining. This is a proverb from Zhuangzi (莊子), who lived in the late 4th century BC.
This figuratively refers to female beauty that is so captivating that even the birds and beasts take notice.
Perhaps a better and more accurate way to describe this is to say that it speaks of the charms of a uniquely beautiful woman who is so beautiful that fish stay on the bottom of the water and flying wild geese fall from the sky in shame.
This proverb is so famous that it is also known and used in Japan (same characters, different pronunciation).
Note: This can also be written 沉魚落雁 instead of 沈魚落雁 (just the first character varies slightly).
Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your goose search...
Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
雁 see styles |
yàn yan4 yen gan がん |
More info & calligraphy: Wild Goose(1) (surname) (given) Gan; (2) (work) The Wild Geese (1913 novel by Mori Ōgai); (surname, given name) Gan; (wk) The Wild Geese (1913 novel by Mori Ōgai) A hawk, also used for hamsa, a wild goose. |
竭澤而漁 竭泽而渔 see styles |
jié zé ér yú jie2 ze2 er2 yu2 chieh tse erh yü |
More info & calligraphy: Drain the pond to get all the fish |
唳 see styles |
lì li4 li |
cry of a crane or wild goose |
鴈 雁 see styles |
yàn yan4 yen gan がん |
variant of 雁[yan4] (kana only) wild goose; (1) (kana only) wild goose; (2) (kana only) (abbreviation) (colloquialism) glans; head of a penis; (surname) Gan A wild goose. |
鴻 鸿 see styles |
hóng hong2 hung bishiyago びしやご |
eastern bean goose; great; large (kana only) bean goose (Anser fabalis); (1) large bird; (2) peng (in Chinese mythology, giant bird said to transform from a fish); (3) fenghuang (Chinese phoenix); (surname) Bishiyago |
鵝 鹅 see styles |
é e2 o ga |
goose; CL:隻|只[zhi1] goose |
鵠 鹄 see styles |
hú hu2 hu koku; kou / koku; ko こく; こう |
swan (1) (See 白鳥・はくちょう・1) swan; (2) bullseye; (place-name) Kugui goose |
三鳥 see styles |
sanchou / sancho さんちょう |
(1) {food} chicken, goose and pheasant; (2) (archaism) (orig. meaning) cuckoo, Japanese bush warbler and wagtail |
大雁 see styles |
dà yàn da4 yan4 ta yen |
wild goose; CL:隻|只[zhi1] |
孤雁 see styles |
kogan こがん |
solitary wild goose (i.e. separated from its flock, esp. flying); (given name) Kogan |
寒疣 see styles |
sabuibo さぶいぼ |
(kana only) (ksb:) goosebumps; goose pimples |
恒婆 see styles |
héng pó heng2 po2 heng p`o heng po |
(or恒亙婆), haṃsa, a goose. |
棉鳧 棉凫 see styles |
mián fú mian2 fu2 mien fu |
(bird species of China) cotton pygmy goose (Nettapus coromandelianus) |
正步 see styles |
zhèng bù zheng4 bu4 cheng pu |
goose-step (for military parades) |
水乳 see styles |
shuǐ rǔ shui3 ru3 shui ju suinyū |
Water and milk— an illustration of the intermingling of things; but their essential separateness is recognized in that the rāja-haṃsa (a kind of goose) is said to be able to drink up the milk leaving behind the water. |
灰雁 see styles |
huī yàn hui1 yan4 hui yen |
(bird species of China) greylag goose (Anser anser) |
白雁 see styles |
hakugan; hakugan はくがん; ハクガン |
(kana only) snow goose (Chen caerulescens); blue goose |
真雁 see styles |
magan; magan まがん; マガン |
(kana only) greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons); (surname) Makari |
石蜐 see styles |
shí jié shi2 jie2 shih chieh |
goose barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes) |
胡雁 see styles |
hú yàn hu2 yan4 hu yen |
Tatar goose, wild goose found in territories northwest of China in ancient times |
菱食 see styles |
hishikui ひしくい |
(kana only) bean goose (Anser fabalis) |
豆雁 see styles |
dòu yàn dou4 yan4 tou yen |
(bird species of China) taiga bean goose (Anser fabalis) |
起粟 see styles |
qǐ sù qi3 su4 ch`i su chi su |
to get goose bumps |
過雁 see styles |
kagan かがん |
flying goose |
雁塔 see styles |
yàn tǎ yan4 ta3 yen t`a yen ta Gantō |
Yanta District of Xi’an 西安市[Xi1 an1 Shi4], Shaanxi The Wild Goose pagoda, name of a famous monastery. |
雁王 see styles |
yàn wáng yan4 wang2 yen wang gannō |
goose king |
雁金 see styles |
karigane かりがね |
(1) call of a wild goose; (2) (kana only) wild goose (esp. a lesser white-fronted goose, Anser erythropus); (3) tea made from twigs of high-quality tea plants (esp. gyokuro); high-grade kukicha (esp. from gyokuro); (surname) Karigane |
雁首 see styles |
gankubi がんくび karikubi かりくび |
(1) head of a pipe, incl. the bowl and stem attachment; (2) (colloquialism) neck; head; (1) (something resembling a) goose's neck; (2) glans; head of a penis |
雪雁 see styles |
xuě yàn xue3 yan4 hsüeh yen |
(bird species of China) snow goose (Anser caerulescens) |
餅餤 see styles |
beidan / bedan べいだん heidan / hedan へいだん heitan / hetan へいたん |
Heian-period pastry made of duck or goose eggs mixed with vegetables boiled and wrapped in mochi which is then cut into squares |
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Drain the pond to get all the fish | 竭澤而漁 竭泽而渔 | jié zé ér yú jie2 ze2 er2 yu2 jie ze er yu jiezeeryu | chieh tse erh yü chiehtseerhyü |
|
Swan | 天鵝 天鹅 | tiān é / tian1 e2 / tian e / tiane | t`ien o / tieno / tien o | |
Wild Goose | 雁 | karigane / kari | yàn / yan4 / yan | yen |
Beautiful Woman Proverb | 沈魚落雁 沈鱼落雁 | chin gyo raku gan chingyorakugan | chén yú luò yàn chen2 yu2 luo4 yan4 chen yu luo yan chenyuluoyan | ch`en yü lo yen chenyüloyen chen yü lo yen |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
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The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as Goose Kanji, Goose Characters, Goose in Mandarin Chinese, Goose Characters, Goose in Chinese Writing, Goose in Japanese Writing, Goose in Asian Writing, Goose Ideograms, Chinese Goose symbols, Goose Hieroglyphics, Goose Glyphs, Goose in Chinese Letters, Goose Hanzi, Goose in Japanese Kanji, Goose Pictograms, Goose in the Chinese Written-Language, or Goose in the Japanese Written-Language.
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