I'm wondering if this particular expression, namely the four characters expressing the divination that the Dynasty's days are numbered, has any particular significance in a linguistic sense, because it seems to be in format that Koreans call 四字成語 사자성어 sa ja seong eo four character idiom in Hanja/hangul (Korean alphabet). These pithy expressions are popular in Korea. Is there such a linguistic tradition in Chinese? In any case, I really enjoyed this presentation. Thanks.
Thank you for your support and this insightful question. Yes, the four character-phrase is a well established tradition that can be traced back to the Book of Songs to the sixth century BCE and become extremely popular during the Han Dynasty between the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE. Until then, most poetry were four character lines. The five character and seven character lines was a new tradition emerged after the Han Dynasty. And the four character lines become a signature in 赋 disappeared from poetry. It is still very popular in modern Chinese!
I'm wondering if this particular expression, namely the four characters expressing the divination that the Dynasty's days are numbered, has any particular significance in a linguistic sense, because it seems to be in format that Koreans call 四字成語 사자성어 sa ja seong eo four character idiom in Hanja/hangul (Korean alphabet). These pithy expressions are popular in Korea. Is there such a linguistic tradition in Chinese? In any case, I really enjoyed this presentation. Thanks.
Thank you for your support and this insightful question. Yes, the four character-phrase is a well established tradition that can be traced back to the Book of Songs to the sixth century BCE and become extremely popular during the Han Dynasty between the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE. Until then, most poetry were four character lines. The five character and seven character lines was a new tradition emerged after the Han Dynasty. And the four character lines become a signature in 赋 disappeared from poetry. It is still very popular in modern Chinese!