吃闭门羹 (chī bìméngēng) To be denied entrance
王先生和他的朋友吵架后，每次想去和解都会吃闭门羹。
(wáng xiānsheng hé tā de péngyŏu chăojià hòu, měicì xiăng qù héjiě dōu huì chī bìméngēng.)
Ever since the quarrel between Mr. Wang and his friends, every time Mr. Wang intended to restore their relationship, he was denied.
In 吃闭门羹(chī bìméngēng), 吃(chī) means "eat," 闭门(bìmén) means "close the door" and 羹(gēng) means "soup." In Chinese Tang Dynasty, there was a famous geisha, Miss Shi Feng. She treated her visitors by their social status. When people with low positions visited her, she would put a bowl of soup in front of the closed door to show her refusal to them. Gradually, the phrase 吃闭门羹(chī bìméngēng) became popular.
Actually, there exist two layers of meaning in this word. See examples below:
1. 我每次去拜访他都吃了闭门羹，因为他总是不在家。
(wŏ měicì qù bàifăng tā dōu chī le bìméngēng, yīnwèi tā zŏng shì bú zài jiā.)
Every time I visit him, I was denied entrance because he was always not at home.
In this sentence, 吃闭门羹(chī bìméngēng) is used to describe a fact, that is, he is not at home.
2. When 吃闭门羹(chī bìméngēng) is used in the sentence at the beginning of this essay, it also describes human emotions. In this case, it shows indifference.
Thus, please consider the context before you use the phrase.
月光族 (yuè guāng zú) Moonlight group
Recently, 月光族(yuè guāng zú) has become popular in China. 月光(yuè guāng) actually means "moonlight." But here it has a totally different meaning. 光(guāng) means "running out" here rather than "light." 月光族(yuè guāng zú) refers to a group of people having the following features: They are young, eager to follow the trend and buy fashionable items. They always run out of their salaries at the end of month and hold the principle of "how much earned, how much spent." Thus, they got their special name: 月光族(yuè guāng zú) a group of young people that intend to spend all of their salaries at the end of every month.
e.g. 他很早就成为了月光族的一员。
(tā hěn zăo jiù chéngwéi le yuè guāng zú de yīyuán.)
He joined the moonlight group at an early age.
