The Pen Producing Flowers--Miao Bi Sheng Hua

The Chinese of The Pen Producing Flowers--Miao Bi Sheng Hua is 妙笔生花, and Pin Yin miào bǐ shēng huā.

Ji Shao Yu(纪少瑜) was a poet and writer in the Liang dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties Period.

Legend has it that When he was very young, in order to be a good writer, Ji Shao Yu studied very hard, but disappointedly, he made little progress until one day he was catnapping at his desk, he dreamed that his ideal--Lu Chui (a famous writer contemporary with Ji Shao Yu) came into his room with a green-jade pen in his hand, saying, "This is a magic pen, please make good use of it."

Since then, his writing skill had improved by leaps and bounds and he eventually became an outstanding litterateur. Those who liked his works said that Ji Shao Yu wrote his articles with a magic pen producing flowers.


Background And Writer Comment:

The idiom of is now used to praise someone for his/her excellent writing skill.

There is another idiom--Jiang Yan Used Up His Talents--Jiang Lang Cai Jin with similar plot with this one, but with different meaning.