Chinese Matters: 东床快婿

Monday, August 17, 2020

东床快婿(1)

中国东晋的时候(344–405) 有个大官(2) 姓郗(3)，是一个太傅(4)，有一天他叫他的学

生给宰相(5)送一封信，请宰相帮他选一个女婿。宰相回答(huídá)说，“我有很多学生住

在我家东边的屋子里，您去选吧。”郗太傅的学生去东边的屋子看了以后回来报告说，

“宰相的学生都很不错，听说我来给您选女婿，个个都很客气，站起来打招呼，只有一个

年轻人躺在东边的一张床上，好像没看见我。”郗太傅说，“这个人好！”于是他去看那

个年轻人。原来他就是后来成为(6)有名书法家(7)的王羲之(8)，后来郗太傅就把女儿嫁

(9)给了王羲之。现在中国人把女婿也叫做“东床”，就是从这个故事来的。

(1) (女)婿({nǚ}xù): (literary) son-in-law

(2) 官(guān): official

(3) 郗(Xī ): Chinese surname

(4) 太傅(tàifù): Grand Master; tutor to the crown prince

(5) 宰相(zǎixiàng): prime minister

(6) 成为(chéngwéi): to become

(7) 书法家(shūfǎjiā): calligrapher

(8) 王羲之(Wáng Xīzhī): a person’s name (calligrapher, 303–361 C.E.)

(9) 嫁(jià): (of a woman) to marry

Questions:

1. Why did Xi Taifu send his student to the prime minister?

2. What did the prime minister tell Xi’s student?

3. What did Xi’s student tell him about one particular young man?

4. Why do you think Xi picked Wang Xizhi?

reference:

Supplementary Readings to Accompany

Integrated Chinese, Level 2, Third Edition

Chinese Matters