“Stand out from the crowd" — Phrase of the Week
A young vocational school student from Jiangsu beats hundreds of competitors in a global math competition
Our phrase of the week is: “stand out from the crowd” (脱颖而出 tuō yǐng ér chū)
Context
A 17-year-old self-taught mathematics enthusiast from a small city in Jiangsu has come twelfth in the preliminary round of the Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition, organized by Alibaba’s DAMO Academy.
Over 800 competitors from around the world, with an average age of 22, qualified for the finals of the competition, which were held on June 22.
Most of those finalists have studied math at top international universities including MIT, and the University of Cambridge, as well as China’s top institutions such as Peking University, and Tsinghua University.
The surprise entrant was Jiāng Píng 姜萍. She studies fashion design at at the Lianshui Vocational School in Jiangsu (涟水中等专业学校 Liánshuǐ zhōngděng zhuānyè xuéxiào).
Vocational schools (中专 zhōngzhuān) are looked down upon in China’s competitive education system, seen as offering low quality education. The chances of a child educated in a vocational school going on to a top university through the Gaokao exams is virtually impossible.
But Jiang Ping’s exceptional math abilities have ironically proven that’s not always the case.
The 17-year-old not only came ahead of competitors several years older than her from some of the world’s top universities, she was the only girl in the top 30.
She stood out from the crowd in this competition and caught the attention of some renowned universities, who have extended olive branches to her.
It will surely open up another possibility for Jiang very soon.
通过一次竞赛脱颖而出，据说已经有一些高等学府注意到了她，并向她伸出了橄榄枝，相信不久她将会开启人生的另一种可能。[1]
Tōngguò yícì jìngsài tuōyǐng'érchū, jùshuō yǐjīng yǒu yìxiē gāoděng xuéfǔ zhùyì dàole tā, bìng xiàng tā shēnchūle gǎnlǎnzhī, xiāngxìn bùjiǔ tā jiāng huì kāiqǐ rénshēng de lìngyìzhǒng kěnéng.
And with that we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
“Stand out from the crowd” is a common four-character idiom in Chinese.
It has a backstory (典故 diǎngù) that most people in China with a high school education will know.
The idiom first appeared in the Records of a Grand Historian (史记 shǐjì), compiled by Sī Mǎqiān (司马迁) around the late second and early first century BC.
Records is a monumental history of China, covering a 3,000-year period from the age of the mystical Yellow Emperor, to Emperor Wu of Han, who reigned from 141 to 87 BC.
The idiom is found in the chapter, Biography of Lord Pingyuan and Yu Qing (平原君虞卿列传):
Mao Sui said: "I was just being put into the pocket. Had I been pocketed earlier, you would have seen the entire blade, not just the tip of the awl."
毛遂曰：“臣乃今日请处囊中耳。使遂早得处囊中，乃颖脱而出，非特其末见而已。”
Máo Suì yuē:“Chén nǎi jīnrì qǐng chǔ náng zhōng ěr. Shǐ suì zǎo dé chǔ náng zhōng, nǎi yǐng tuō ér chū, fēi tè qí mò jiàn éryǐ.”
This story is set during the Warring States period (475-221 BC) which eventually concluded with the Qin unifying China. Lord Pingyuan represented the Kingdom of Zhao, one of the warring states.
This is a conversation between Pingyuan, and Mao Sui, who was one of his advisors. The Kingdom of Zhao was facing an attack from the formidable Kingdom of Qin. Mao Sui asked Lord Pingyuan for permission to facilitate the negotiation between the Kingdom of Zhao, and the Kingdom of Chu, a larger state to the south east, to join forces to fight against the Qin.
Lord Pingyuan initially dismissed the request, questioning Mao Sui’s abilities. He likened his advisors to awls (锥 zhuī) in his pocket. An awl is a sharp, pointed, knife-like tool used for punching holes in leather and textiles. The pointed tip of the awl (颖 yǐng) represents talent, and in modern Chinese, yǐng 颖 still has this meaning.
Lord Pingyuan in his response to Mao was probably suggesting that his advisor, was not the “sharpest tool in the box”, to use a modern English idiom, and not capable of negotiating a deal.
Mao Sui replied to Lord Pingyuan’s concerns with the above line, using the same metaphor to suggest he was sharper than the other “awls” (advisors) Lord Pingyuan had, and sharp enough for the challenge. This convinced Lord Pingyuan to take Mao with him in his team of negotiators. In the end, it was Mao Sui who persuaded the Kingdom of Chu to work with the Kingdom of Zhao.
In modern Chinese, that phrase has become the four-character idiom, “stand out from the crowd” (脱颖而出).
It describes a person who has done something totally beyond expectation, and gained prominence because of it. It’s often associated with academic performance, or excellence in other areas.
In English it can be translated as “come to the fore”, or “distinguished”. But we prefer “stand out from the crowd” which emphasizes the great achievement of Jiang Ping in out performing hundreds of highly trained mathematicians from around the world.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource to help you learn contemporary Chinese in context, and stay on top of the latest language trends in China.
Read more about how this story is being discussed in the Chinese media in this week’s RealTime Mandarin.