Analects 9.27: 子罕 (Zi Han)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 9 presents the Master through questions about his learning, skills, character, and place in the cultural tradition. His own accounts of ordinary work and unfinished attainment stand beside his students’ admiration. Ritual decisions distinguish useful change from arrogant display, while the jade exchange joins willingness to serve with waiting for someone who recognizes worth. Images of flowing water, earthworks, growing plants, and winter trees give passing time, effort, and tested character concrete form. Praise of learners sits beside regret and warnings about unfinished growth. The later sayings ask for correction, resolve, and the ability to weigh circumstances after learning to stand firm.
Analects 9.27
子曰、歲寒、然後知松柏之後彫也。
The Master said, “Only when the year grows cold do we see that the pine and cypress are the last to wither.”
Commentary
source variant The word for withering The Chinese here prints 彫, also used for carving; the Chinese Wikisource text has 凋, “wither.” Legge’s account of losing leaves supports the withering sense in this sentence. The English reads the printed form in that sense while preserving its exact shape in the Chinese.
Basis: sourced
Confidence: medium
ethics What the cold reveals The cold makes visible a difference that a gentler season can conceal. 後, “after” or “last,” is comparative: the pine and cypress wither later. The image can suggest steadfast character revealed under pressure while retaining its concrete seasonal observation.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium