Chinese Language Story About Wives’ Father

By Author: james toma
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Whether Chinese course or through the online learning, Many foreigners are learning Chinese and do you have any ideas? Chinese learning can come to China for sightseeing and also can understand China development, culture, custom, etc. If you are interested in learning Chinese, then usually you can learn Chinese through the Chinese lesson or online to enrich their own minds. For example do you know how to say your wife's father in Chinese language? If you don’t, you can see the following story.

In China, husbands often call their wives' father "岳父 (yuèfù)." The meaning of "父 (fù) father" is rather easy to understand, but the Chinese character "岳 (yuè)" can be confusing. The following story explains why Chinese people "称呼 (chēnghū) call" their wives' fathers "岳父 (yuèfù)":
In ancient China, emperors often went to the peaks of famous mountains to worship the mountains and rivers. Additionally, they also proclaimed promotions of other government officials there.
In the Tang Dynasty, Emperor "唐玄宗 (Táng Xuánzōng) ...
... Tang Xuanzong" promoted his subordinates at "泰山 (Tàishān) Mount Tai." He raised "张说 (Zhāng Yuè) Zhang Yue" to an official position of great power. After that, "张说 (Zhāng Yuè) Zhang Yue" used his power to help his "女婿 (nǚxu) son-in-law " "郑镒 (zhèng Yì) Zheng Yi" also get a significant government promotion. "唐玄宗 (Táng Xuánzōng) Tang Xuanzong" became aware of this and questioned "郑镒 (zhèngYì) Zheng Yi" on how he got such a good promotion in such a short time. "郑镒 (zhèngYì) Zheng Yi" remained speechless, but his colleague "黄幡绰 (Huáng Fānchuò) Huang Fanchuo" told Emperor "唐玄宗 (Táng Xuánzōng) Tang Xuanzong": "Thanks to the power of '泰山 (Tàishān) Mount Tai,' he got the promotion." Then "唐玄宗 (Táng Xuánzōng) Tang Xuanzong" became to understand that "张说(Zhāng Yuè) Zhang Yue" had practiced nepotism to help his "女婿 (nǚxu) son-in-law" after his own promotion atop "泰山 (Tàishān) Mount Tai."
Many people heard of this and began to "称呼 (chēnghū) call" their wives' father "泰山 (Tàishān) Mount Tai." Because "泰山 (Tàishān) Mount Tai" is the No. 1 among the "五岳 (wǔyuè)Five Famous Mountains," people also began to call their wives' fathers "岳父 (yuèfù)."
In modern Chinese, this "称呼 (chēnghū) form of address" is still in use. Since Chinese people call their parents "父母 (fùmǔ)," they call their wives' mother "岳母 (yuèmǔ)."

五岳 (wǔyuè): In China, "五岳" refers to the Five Famous Mountains, consisting of "恒山 (Héngshān) Mount Heng in Shanxi Province," "华山(Huàshān) Mount Hua in Shaanxi Province," "嵩山 (Sōngshān) Mount Song in Henan Province," "泰山 (Tàishān) Mount Tai in Shandong Province," and "衡山 (Héngshān) Mount Heng in Hunan province." These five mountains are renowned for their beautiful scenery. Mount Tai ranked number one among the Five Famous Mountains.

Do you understand? It is not difficult to Chinese learning. Are you interested in Chinese language? Are you taking part in Chinese lesson? If you want to learn Chinese, join us. Welcome to visit http://www.echineselearning.com/