Insisting on Having One's Own Way

Characters:

Pronunciation: Yi(1) Yi(4) Gu(1) Xing(2)

Explanation: Implying that one acts willfully without regarding the bad conditions and other people's opinion

Tone: Neutral

The Story: Zhao Yu of the Western Han Dynasty was a subordinate of Grand Chancellor Zhou Yafu.

After the revolt of the seven states of Wu and Chu, Zhou Yafu was promoted to the illustrious post of Prime Minister, and Zhao Yu became Assistant to the Prime Minister and later the Imperial Censor.

All the high officials in those days kept a group of sycophants in their houses. Zhao Yu was honest in performing his duties. Since the day he became an official, he had never kept any hangers-on in his house and he insisted on doing things in his own way. He refused to do any favour for the nobles and other officials in their private affairs. Sima Qian, the author of the Records of the Historian, said that he "clung obstinately to his own course."

Usage Example (Pinyin): Qing(3) bu(3) yao(4) zai(4) yi(2) yi(4) gu(1) xing(2) le, fou(3) ze(2) wo(3) men(3) hui(4) shang(1) xin(1) de.

Usage Example (English translation): Please do not insist on having your own way like this, otherwise you will offend us.

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.