📖 Meaning
To hold a gate and strike the watchman's clapper, originally referring to guards who kept watch at city gates and patrolled at night beating wooden clappers. It is used metaphorically to describe someone holding a lowly, humble position. The phrase conveys the idea of willingly accepting a modest post rather than seeking high office.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Mencius (《孟子·万章下》), a foundational Confucian text compiled during the Warring States period. Mencius discussed the principle that a person in poverty should accept a humble position rather than covet wealth and rank. He argued that it is proper for someone without means to decline high office and instead take up a lowly role such as guarding a gate and beating the night watchman's clapper. The Tang dynasty scholar Han Yu later cited this passage in his essay 'On the Remonstrating Official' (《争臣论》) to argue that accepting a modest post is honorable.
💡 Example Usage
他甘愿抱关击柝，也不愿攀附权贵以求高位。
He would rather hold a humble post guarding gates and beating the night watch than curry favor with the powerful in pursuit of high office.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 抱关击柝
- Pinyin: bào guān jī tuò
- Literal Translation: hold, gate, strike, watchman's clapper
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4