To intercede for someone; to speak on someone's behalf; to put in a good word for someone.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Synonym:
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Story:
During the Tang Dynasty, there was a young man from Jiangdong named Xiang Si, courtesy name Ziqian. When he first took the imperial examinations, he was not well-known.
Someone took his writings to show a famous scholar, Yang Jingzhi. Yang Jingzhi was greatly impressed by Xiang Si's talent and character. He composed a poem for Xiang Si, which included lines like, “I have seen his poems many times, and they are all good; but observing his character, it surpasses his poems. I have never known how to hide others' virtues, so everywhere I meet people, I speak of Xiang Si.”
Because of Yang Jingzhi's enthusiastic endorsement and widespread praise for Xiang Si, he soon gained recognition and was successfully admitted by the imperial court in Chang'an.
The idiom '代为说项' (dài wéi shuō xiàng) originates from Yang Jingzhi's act of speaking highly of Xiang Si to others, helping him achieve success.