ChengYu: 闭月羞花 MEANING

THE IDIOM

Traditional: 閉月羞花

Simplified: 闭月羞花

Pinyin: bì yuè xiū huā

ABOUT DIAOCHAN (貂蝉 DIĀO CHÁN)

BACKGROUND

Diaochan’s popularity in Chinese history stems largely from her presence in the romantic novel,Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Set towards the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, the novel romanticizes the events leading up to the Han empire’s split into three kingdoms and the ensuing fate of a once unified entity. Though the novel bases most of its plot on historical events, no historical records from the time point to the existence of Diaochan, meaning her story is based largely on myth.

Historians have speculated about Diaochan’s background for ages, but I’ll be focusing on the story that the masses know.

LOVE TRIANGLE BETWEEN DIAOCHAN, FATHER AND SON

When the apple fell from the tree, Newton said, “What goes up must come down.” In terms of history, this statement means that once a kingdom/governing entity’s Golden Age comes to an end, so does the country.
After years of running a prosperous country, the Han Dynasty enters the last few decades of its rule. Corruption rages throughout imperial court, the common people live off pennies, and the emperor wastes his days away. These years of turmoil leave China under the control of various warlords, the most powerful of them being 董卓 (dǒng zhuó.)

Under DongZhuo’s absolute rule, people suffer enormous setbacks in livelihood, but unfortunately, no one can say anything. DongZhuo controls the military. Officials who say anything related to his style of rule disappear immediately, and DongZhuo’s popularity increases daily.

王允 (wáng yún), a minister in the imperial court, decides that DongZhuo needs to go. As he carefully structures his game plan, Wang Yun remembers DiaoChan, a singer in his mansion (during those times, people of power kept singers and dancers in their homes for entertainment purposes.)

DiaoChan destroys the relationship between DongZhuo and his adopted son, 吕布 (lǚ bù). Wang Yun plays his part, telling DongZhuo that in a few days, the most beautiful woman will be gifted to DongZhuo as a concubine. This two-faced official also promises DiaoChan to LvBu.

Once DongZhuo officially accepts DiaoChan as his wife, LvBu loses his mind. He develops jaded feelings towards his foster father, and decides that he’s going to visit DiaoChan secretly.

Coincidentally, DongZhuo arrives home during the meeting. He sees LvBu and Diaochan together, loses his respective mind, and tries to kill LvBu. In the process, DongZhuo dies. Wang Yun reigns victorious, and many people benefit from DongZhuo’s death. Unfortunately, this death paves the way for more corruption, because everyone wants power.

DIAOCHAN'S ENDING

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author implies that DiaoChan stays with LvBu, but they do not live happily ever after. Instead, LvBu loses a battle somewhere down the line and dies. The story does not go into what happens to DiaoChan after LvBu’s death and ever since, a mass collection of stories telling of DiaoChan’s end were created. The stories have been split into two different sections: stories that focus on her tragic death and stories that focus on her happily ever after. Here is one of the popular endings:

So when LvBu dies, DiaoChan is gifted to a man named 关羽 (guān yǔ), as a sort of spoils of war. They do have affections for each other, but because of DiaoChan’s role in destroying DongZhuo, Guan Yu does not trust her. In order to demonstrate that she has no intentions of ruining Guan Yu, DiaoChan kills herself.

STORY BEHIND THE IDIOM

闭月(bì yuè)
闭: to shy away from
月: moon

After fulfilling her duties, DiaoChan goes out to the garden one night and looks at the moon. Wang Yun just happens to be passing by and as he does, a cloud covers the moon, making it seems as if the moon is hiding from DiaoChan’s supreme beauty. Since then, 闭月 has been used to describe beauty.