In each of those posts, we talked about three Chinese idioms. While there are thousands of four-character idioms in the Chinese language, today we’re going to discuss just one:<\/p>\n
\u843d\u53f6\u5f52\u6839 – lu\u00f2 y\u00e8 gu\u012b g\u0113n<\/h2>\n“Falling leaves return to their roots.”<\/h2>\n
Let’s break this idiom down character by character to understand it better:<\/p>\n
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\u843d – to fall; decline<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
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\u53f6 – leaf<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
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\u5f52 – to return; go back<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n
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\u6839 – root; origin<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/12\/luoyeguigen-fallen-leaves-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>A great Chinese idiom.<\/p><\/div>\n
Basically, this idiom is used to describe returning to one’s hometown and\/or family. If you’re like me and you’ve spent years living abroad, sometimes you get a little homesick and you just want to go back to where you came from. If and when I ever decide to leave the Middle Kingdom and head home, I can use this idiom to explain my decision, and every Chinese person I talk to will understand completely. We can even see this idiom at work with a recent news story from China…<\/p>\n
Recently, a 28-year old man named Luo Gang was reunited with his birth parents. In 1990, at the age of five, he had been kidnapped from his village in Sichuan province and sold to a family 900 miles away in Fujian. Thanks to the one-child policy of China, many families with only a daughter were willing to resort to child trafficking to have a son. Over the years, Luo never gave up the hope of finding his way back home. Just last year, he turned to a website for help – Baby Come Home<\/a><\/strong> (\u5b9d\u8d1d\u56de\u5bb6 – b\u01ceo b\u00e8i hu\u00ed ji\u0101), which helps lost children reunite with their families. Thanks to a hand-drawn map he had made based on his childhood memories, and help from eager netizens, Luo was able to connect the dots and find his hometown. When he was finally reunited with his birth parents, Luo told reporters, “\u843d\u53f6\u5f52\u6839.” He always had faith in this ancient Chinese idiom that he would eventually return home, and he did. Click here<\/a> to see a fantastic article from the BBC about this story.<\/p>\n