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During the Wei-Jin period, Ruan Ji and his nephew Ruan Xian, two of the 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove,' lived on the south side of the road in their hometown. Other members of the Ruan clan lived on the north side. The Ruans on the south side were very poor.
According to local customs, people would air their clothes on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
Ruan Xian, unable to escape this tradition, simply took out a few pairs of coarse cloth shorts and hung them on a bamboo pole to dry, contrasting sharply with the elaborate silk garments displayed by the wealthier northern Ruans.

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Open the tool →南阮北阮 (nán ruǎn běi ruǎn) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “describes families of the same clan living in the same area but with vast differences in wealth or social status, highlighting the contrast between the rich and the poor within a single lineage”.
南阮北阮 is pronounced nán ruǎn běi ruǎn in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 南阮北阮 means “Southern Ruan, Northern Ruan”. It is used to mean “describes families of the same clan living in the same area but with vast differences in wealth or social status, highlighting the contrast between the rich and the poor within a single lineage”.
南阮北阮 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
指聚居一处而贫富各殊的同族人家。