学进去

From different TV dramas or books about the ancient time, we can often hear titles (称谓) like “taoli” and “kaimo”. In fact, they are so popular that people regard them as part of ancient Chinese history and culture. What do these Chinese titles refer to? Have you ever wondered what the stories behind these ideas are?

Modesty and respect

Chinese people in the past or even sometimes today call their sons quanzi (犬子). They believe that dogs are humble (卑微的) animals. When Chinese parents use quanzi to refer to their sons, they are being modest. Although most parents do want them to be successful, they don’t usually talk about this in front of others. Instead, they try to play it down. This is similar to how even rich Chinese people call their big houses hanshe (寒舍), which means “my humble home”.

Although people are modest about themselves, they respect others a lot. They call their own sons quanzi, but call others’sons linglang (令郎), a respectful way to say “your son”.

Trees of character

In Chinese, kaimo (楷模) means “role model”. Both of these Chinese characters have a “木”on their left side. People believe that kai and mo might are two kinds of trees in ancient China. It was said that there were many kai trees growing near Confucius’ tomb (孔子墓). These trees were so straight that they made people think of Confucius’ character—straight and honest. People believed that the mo trees grew near the tomb of the Duke of Zhou (周公). The color of the mo tree’s leaves made the tree a symbol of integrity.

Since the kai and mo trees grew near the tombs of two respected people, kaimo was then used to refer to role models.