A comical scholar

Post 45 Fall behind Sun Shan

Sun Shan was a gifted scholar during the Song dynasty in China more than 1,000 years ago. He was humorous and good at cracking jokes. His friends called him the ‘comical scholar’.

Once he went to sit for a competitive examination in Beijing. Together with him sitting for the same examination was the son of a man from the same village. When the results were out, Sun Shan was successful. However, his name was last on the list of successful candidates. The son of the villager did not get through.

When Sun Shan reached home, the man from the same village asked him whether his son had passed the examination. Sun Shan found it difficult to break the bad news to him. Casually Sun Shan then blurted out a short poem:

‘The last on the passing list is me, Sun Shan
However, the name of your son falls behind Sun Shan.”

Since then the idiom ‘fall behind Sun Shan’ is used to refer to candidates who have failed in their examinations.

11 May 2010