Rejoicing for Other's Misfortune

Characters:

Pronunciation: xing(4) zai(1) le(4) huo(4)
Explanation: Said of someone who is glad when he/she sees other people in difficulty or troubles

Tone: Negative

The Story: In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a drought in the country of Jin. So Jin had to send an envoy to its neighbor country Qin for help. After the Qin's King, Mu Gong, knew about this, he ordered his soldiers to deliver food to Jin immediately.

The next year, Qin had a major flood and Qin's envoy went to Jin to buy some food, but the king of Jin refused. One minister said, "We should pay them back as they helped us last year. It's wrong to rejoice at others' misfortune." But the king of Jin did not take his minister's suggestion.

When Mu Gong heard the story from his envoy, he was in a rage. He declared a war on Jin and soon Jin was defeated. The king of Jin became a prisoner.

Usage Example (Pinyin): bu(3) yao(4) xing(4) zai(1) le(4) huo(4), na(4) shi(4) bei(1) bi(3) de.

Usage Example (English translation): Don't rejoice for other's misfortune, that's a dirty trick.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.