名落孙山 — “To fail in an examination or selection”

During the Song Dynasty in China, there was a talented scholar named Sun Shan. He was not only humorous but also very good at telling jokes, earning him the nickname 'The Witty Scholar' from the people in his vicinity.

One time, he traveled to the capital with the son of a fellow townsman to take the imperial examination for Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial imperial examination).

When the results were posted, Sun Shan's name was listed last on the roster, but he was still a successful candidate. However, the son of his fellow townsman, who had accompanied him, did not pass the examination.

Soon after, Sun Shan returned home first. His fellow townsman came to inquire whether his son had passed.

Sun Shan felt awkward saying it directly and found it inconvenient to hide the truth, so he casually recited two lines that weren't quite poetry: 'Jieyuan ends with Sun Shan, your son is even beyond Sun Shan.'

Jieyuan, in China's imperial examination system, referred to the top scholar among the Juren candidates. However, in Sun Shan's verse, 'Jieyuan' was used as a general term for any successful Juren candidate. The full meaning of his verse was: 'The last successful candidate on the Juren roster is me, Sun Shan, and your son's name is even further down, beyond me.'

From then on, people used this story to refer to failing to be admitted to a school or failing any kind of examination as '名落孙山' (name falling behind Sun Shan).