have nothing but the bare walls in one 's house

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