‘离城七铺’

‘离城七铺’ is a Teochew proverb and Idioms.It can be understood literally that this place is still far away from the central city.’铺’ is a unit of distance measurement,equivalent to 5 kilometers.’七’means severn.’离’means ‘away from’,’城’ means ‘central city’.So,’离城七铺’ means 35 kilometers from central city.

Practice how to say this proverb in Teochew dialect follow the audio below:

Later it was used to mean that two things are very different and cannot be simply compared.

Ancient unit of measurement

The ancient post road, also known as the post road or official road, was the main land transportation channel in ancient China, mainly used for delivering documents, transporting materials, and personnel exchanges.

A post station was set up every few miles on the post road. The post stations connected to each other, connecting the central government and local governments, making government orders accessible, military reports quick, and people’s sentiments smooth.

In the Ming Dynasty, the unit of measurement for distance was “15 kilometers per ’驿’, 5 miles per ‘post station’铺’.”

The debate on the same surname

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Daqi from Chaoyang Central City (a county of Teochew) served as an imperial censor.

One day, he and 陈国舅 (国舅 means brother of the emperor’s wife or consort,his name is Chen Beike), who was originally from Guiyu, a suburb of Chaoyang County, went to court at the same time.

Chen Daqi was always honest, so he reported the truth: “Your Majesty, although we are from the same county and both have the surname Chen, I am Chen from the city center, and Chen Beike is Chen from Guiyu. Guiyu is still ‘七铺'(35 kilometers) away from the city!”

“What does ‘七铺’ mean?”

“What does ‘七铺’ mean?” The emperor didn’t understand and asked again.

Chen Beike explained first: “Your Majesty, my house is connected to Chen Daqi’s. Chen Daqi means that our two houses are close to each other. The distance between them is only ‘七步'(means seven steps,Chinese pronunciation is similar to’七铺’). We played together when we were young!”

“Oh!” The emperor nodded with satisfaction. Chen Daqi was not able to defend himself, so he had to give up.

From then on, the saying “离城七铺” was passed down.