博士买驴 (bó shì mǎi lǘ)
A Donkey Receipt
Two interesting sayings in the Chinese language are often used to deride writing crammed with empty verbiage. One likens such works to the bandages once used to bind women’s feet into so-called tiny “Lily Feet” during China’s feudalistic years. People could imagine that such bandages must be both long and fetid.
The other is the idiom Bo Shi Mai Lü, or “an imperial court academician buys a donkey.”
To understand this idiom, one must know the story behind it.
Yan Zhitui was a famous writer during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577 AD) and he advocated a simple and direct style of writing.
He was appointed to several important posts at the imperial court when he was young. Later, due to the then-turbulent political situation, he decided to retire to his hometown to concentrate on teaching its young people.
At that time, an abstruse and verbose writing style was in vogue and young people in Yan’s hometown were blindly following the trend. To persuade them to adopt a simple and straightforward writing style, Yan told them a story about an anonymous imperial court academician.
One day, the academician went to buy a donkey at a farmers’ fair. After sealing a deal with a trader, the scholar asked for a receipt. The trader told him, “Sorry, sir, I can’t write. Why don’t you write the receipt for me since you are a learned man?” The academician agreed.
The trader immediately brought paper and a brush pen for the academician. The scholar sat down on the roadside and began to write the voucher. He wrote on and on, and he soon attracted a group of curious onlookers.
The trader became impatient and asked the scholar, “What are you writing? Could you read out loud what you have already written down for me?”
“Yes, of course,” the scholar answered.
Then, as if he were reciting a newly-written poem, he read the three pages that he had just written. But after he finished reading, the trader hadn’t heard a single word about a donkey. So he asked again, “Sir, why don’t you simply say that on this date, I sold a donkey to you and charged you such an amount of money? What are the three pages of mumble jumble all about?”
Hearing the conversation, the onlookers all burst out laughing.
After telling the story, Yan asked the young people, “Is there anyone among you who wishes to walk in the shoes of the academician?”
Though it originated some 1,450 years ago, today this idiom is still frequently cited by Chinese people to satirize pieces of writing in the style of that donkey receipt.