📖 Meaning
The formal institutions, regulations, and established precedents of the imperial court and the state. It refers broadly to the codified body of dynastic laws, rites, and administrative systems that governed traditional Chinese governance. The term evokes the weight and continuity of bureaucratic tradition.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom appears in a preface by Lu Xun (鲁迅) in his 1935 essay collection 'Essays from the Qiejieting Studio, Part Two' (《且介亭杂文二集》). Lu Xun observed that readers of earlier eras pored over diaries and letters not merely for personal gossip, but to study '朝章国故' — the court's institutional norms and state precedents — along with elegant phrasing and the art of social maneuvering. He noted wryly that this scrutiny made prominent figures afraid to write casually even in their private journals. The phrase captures the late imperial literati's obsession with the minutiae of bureaucratic form and ritual.
💡 Example Usage
老先生毕生钻研朝章国故，对历代典制如数家珍。
The old scholar devoted his life to studying court regulations and state precedents, knowing the institutions of every dynasty like the back of his hand.
🏷️ Category
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➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 朝章国故
- Pinyin: cháo zhāng guó gù
- Literal Translation: court, regulations, state, precedents
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4