have nothing but the bare walls in one 's house
The Chinese idiom, Ji ā t ú s ì B ì, means that the family is very poor and empty. It comes from the biography of Sima Xiangru in historical records.
Idiom explanation
Apprentice: only, only. There are only four walls in the house. He is very poor and has nothing.
The origin of Idioms
According to the biography of Sima Xiangru in historical records, "Wen Jun died in the night and ran to Xiangru. Xiangru came back to Chengdu and lived in four walls."
Idioms and allusions
Sima Xiangru, a scholar of the Western Han Dynasty, returned to Chengdu when he was not satisfied with his official career. Once he went to Linqiong (place name) rich Zhuo Wang sun's home for a banquet. After three rounds of drinking, he began to play the piano. The sound of Qin moved Zhuo Wenjun, the daughter of sun Xinduo, the king of excellence. She went back to Chengdu with Sima Xiangru overnight. When he arrived at Xiangru's home, he found that there were only four walls in his home (there were only four walls around the poor family), so Zhuo Wenjun advised Sima Xiangru to go to Linqiong together. They sold the carriage and opened a hotel in Linqiong. Wen Jun sells wine like doing chores. Zhuo Wang sun thought that his daughter was immoral and did not give them financial assistance or come to see them.
Idiom usage
Subject predicate; predicate, attributive, complement; describe the poor family, nothing
Chinese PinYin : jiā tú sì bì
have nothing but the bare walls in one 's house
not for days [ merely ] or for months. bù rì bù yuè
give up completely to natural impulse. zì qíng zòng yù
focus on only one aspect and neglect all the others. jǔ yī fèi bǎi
have sufficient grounds for one 's views. chí zhī yǒu gù
The party and the party work together. ē dǎng xiāng wéi
demolish with penetrating criticism. biān pì jìn lǐ