📖 Meaning
Acting as if no one else is present. It describes someone behaving in a self-important or arrogant manner, completely disregarding the people around them. The phrase can also describe someone so absorbed in an activity that they are oblivious to their surroundings.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the 'Biographies of the Assassins' chapter in Sima Qian's 'Records of the Grand Historian' (史记), compiled during the Western Han dynasty. It describes Jing Ke, the famous assassin, and his friend Gao Jianli, who would drink heavily in the markets of the Yan state with a dog butcher. When drunk, Gao Jianli would play the zhu (a stringed instrument) while Jing Ke sang along in the marketplace; they would alternate between joyful singing and tearful weeping, behaving as though no one else were around. The phrase later came to characterize an attitude of haughty indifference toward others, though its original sense also carried a hint of impassioned, world-defying camaraderie.
💡 Example Usage
他在安静的图书馆里大声打电话，旁若无人，引来周围读者不满的目光。
He talked loudly on his phone in the quiet library, utterly oblivious to everyone around him, drawing annoyed looks from the other readers.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 旁若无人
- Pinyin: páng ruò wú rén
- Literal Translation: beside, as if, no, person
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4