23 学生为何又称“桃李”? Why are students also referred to as “peach and plum”in Chinese?
Taoli man tianxia(桃李满天下)is a popular saying in China.It means“a teacher has students everywhere.”Tao means“peach，”and li“plum.”Why do people use tao and li to imply“student”?
During the early Warring States Period there was a top-official at ministerial level under the State of Wei(魏国)whose name was Zizhi(子质).During his official tenure，Zizhi used his superior position to give many people higher official positions and ranking.However，when he displeased the king and was removed from office，nobody came out and addressed the king as an advocate on behalf of Zizhi.Finally，Zizhi had to leave his country and went to the State of Zhao(赵国).
One day Zizhi told the king of Zhao what happened to him in the State of Wei.He complained that those officials，who had been promoted as officials through his influence，had failed to plead on his behalf.Upon hearing of his story，the king began to console him with a following story.
He said，“If you grow peach and plum plants in spring，you will be able to sit under the shade of the plants for a rest in summer and pick up fruit from the trees in autumn.However，if you grow puncture vines in spring，you can't sit under the shade of the vines for a rest in summer and pick up fruits from them in autumn.Moreover，vines often prick with thorns.”
On hearing the story from the king，Zizhi relaxed and relief grew on his face.Thus people later used peach and plum as a figure of speech for students.
Notes: 1)ministerial 部长的 2)tenure 占有期;任期 3)advocate 拥护 4)complain 抱怨 5)plead 恳求 6)console 安慰 7)puncture vine 蒺藜 8)prick 刺痛，刺伤 9)thorn 荆棘 10)a figure of speech 修辞，比喻
免责声明：以上内容源自网络，版权归原作者所有，如有侵犯您的原创版权请告知，我们将尽快删除相关内容。
