Chinese sayings: 42 (攀轅扣馬 / 攀辕扣马)

 

攀轅扣馬 / 攀辕扣马

pān yuán kòu mǎ

"climb shaft detain horse"

This is another saying about hospitality:  climbing onto the shaft of the cart and detaining the horse to stop the guest from leaving.  That's taking hospitality a bit far, isn't it??

    Having been brought up in the Chinese tradition, I can certainly relate to the duty of trying to make your guests feel welcomed, but not to the point of climbing onto the bonnet and withholding their car keys (the modern equivalent).  Hahahahaha.  

See also:  牽衣投轄 / 牵衣投辖

https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2023/12/chinese-sayings-20.html 

Lima cars (Peru)

On our way in to Lima Central on the bus from the airport, we noticed that their cars were running around perfectly in spite of bits missing — wing mirrors, side windows, main windows, even entire windscreens.  We laughed at each one as and when we spotted them, “Look at that one!  It doesn’t even have a windscreen at all!”  It never rains in Lima, you see, or only once in a blue moon.

Suddenly, we saw a car crossing our path without a bonnet but no engine either!  Just an empty cavity in the front of the car.  How did they manage to get a car running without an engine!?  Then we saw that it was a VW (Volkswagen) beetle.

(Peru, June 1986)