📖 Meaning
Literally means striking a bowl to urge someone to compose a poem within a time limit. It metaphorically praises someone's quick wit and agile literary talent, especially the ability to compose poetry rapidly under pressure.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom appears in the Qing dynasty novel 'Ernü Yingxiong Zhuan' (Tales of Heroic Sons and Daughters) by Wen Kang, where a character says he will strike a bowl to urge poetry just as the ancients did. The practice of striking a bowl to set a time limit for composing poetry dates back to the Southern Dynasties, when Emperor Wu of Liang would strike bowls at literary banquets to challenge courtiers to complete poems before the sound faded. The accompanying allusion 'seven paces and eight叉' invokes two famous exemplars of rapid composition: Cao Zhi, who wrote a poem within seven paces, and Wen Tingyun of the Tang dynasty, who could compose eight rhymed poems in the time of eight hand-crossings, earning the nickname 'Wen Bacha'. Together these references celebrate extraordinary literary agility under time pressure.
💡 Example Usage
他才思敏捷，纵然击钵催诗，亦能从容应对。
His mind is so quick that even under the pressure of a strict time limit to compose poetry, he can handle it with composure.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 击钵催诗
- Pinyin: jī bō cuī shī
- Literal Translation: strike, bowl, urge, poem
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4