The idiom "Que Chao Jiū Zhan" (lit. magpie's nest occupied by a turtledove), pronounced as 'què cháo jiū zhàn', means to metaphorically seize someone else's residence. It originates from the Book of Songs, Zhao Nan, Que Chao: "The magpie has a nest, and the turtledove lives on it." There is also a movie with the same name.
Origin: Que Chao Jiū Zhan
Idiom origin: The Book of Songs, Zhao Nan, Que Chao: "The magpie has a nest, and the turtledove lives on it."
Idiom story: Turtledoves cannot build nests and often forcibly occupy magpies' nests. Originally referred to a woman getting married and settling in her husband's home. Later, it came to mean forcibly occupying someone else's residence.
In the animal kingdom, some birds have the habit of brood parasitism, meaning they do not incubate their own eggs but lay them in the nests of other species for others to raise. Parasitic birds lay eggs in the nests of smaller bird species than themselves so that their offspring can dominate the nest, ensuring food supply and safety, thus growing up smoothly.
Regarding the two birds in the idiom “Que Chao Jiū Zhan”, Que and Jiū, LGD has disbanded. Among these, there is less controversy about Jiū, which does not refer to the pigeon family’s turtledove but rather the cuckoo bird, anciently known as Jiū. According to Lu Ji's commentary on Mao's Poems during the Wu Dynasty: "Jiū, Jiū also. Now called cuckoo." In the Book of Songs, Cao Feng, Jiū laying eggs everywhere is used as a metaphor for sons being away: "Jiū on the mulberry tree, its young ones are on the plum tree... Jiū on the mulberry tree, its young ones are on the thorn tree... Jiū on the mulberry tree, its young ones are on the hazel tree."
The cuckoo family indeed belongs to the brood-parasitic birds, confirming that the Jiū in "Que Chao Jiū Zhan" should be a member of the cuckoo family.
However, magpies belong to the crow family, larger in size than cuckoos, fierce in nature, making it difficult for cuckoos to approach magpies' nests. Moreover, no wild observation records show cuckoos parasitizing magpies' nests. One possibility is that cuckoos cannot build nests while magpies are true experts at nest construction, leading ancient people to make such contrasts purely out of literary imagination.
Magpies' nests are spherical, with diameters reaching one hundred centimeters, and they know how to open their entrances on the side, making them easy to defend and hard to attack, preventing hawks from easily preying. Their structure is very ingenious, making magpies authorities in nest building among birds. Even so, "Que Chao Jiū Zhan" contradicts natural phenomena and is difficult to explain logically.
Among the several bird species that cuckoos like to parasitize, most belong to the warbler and sparrow families, smaller in size. Therefore, some scholars propose that ancient people might have treated "que" and "sparrow" as homophonic borrowing characters. Hence, "Que Chao Jiū Zhan" could actually be "Sparrow Chao Jiū Zhan."
This argument is quite constructive; "Sparrow Chao Jiū Zhan" neither changes the pronunciation or form-meaning and can align with actual conditions in the animal kingdom, serving as a win-win approach.
Usage: Today, "Que Chao Jiū Zhan" refers to anyone (regardless of gender) forcefully occupying another person's home, seizing another person's land, or stealing another person's achievements. For example, "The house that Dad worked hard all his life to buy was forcibly occupied by his son."
Movie: "The Other Boleyn Girl" (港版翻译：华丽孽缘), directed by Justin Chadwick, is a British biographical drama film premiered globally in May 2008.
Director: Justin Chadwick
Producer: Alison Owen
Screenplay: Peter Morgan
Based on the novel by Philippa Gregory
Starring: Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Jim Sturgess, Scarlett Johansson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Mark Rylance, Ana Torrent, David Morrissey
Music: Paul Cantelon
Cinematography: Kieran McGugan
Editing: Paul Knight, Carol Littleton
Production company: BBC Films, Relativity Media
Distributor: Columbia Pictures (USA), Focus Features (International)
Release date: February 15, 2008 (Berlin), February 29, 2008 (USA), March 7, 2008 (UK)
Running time: 115 minutes
Country: UK, USA
Language: English
Budget: $35 million
Box office: $77,713,866
Cast:
Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn
Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn
Eric Bana as Henry VIII
Jim Sturgess as George Boleyn
Mark Rylance as Thomas Boleyn
Kristin Scott Thomas as Elizabeth Boleyn
David Morrissey as Duke of Norfolk (Thomas Howard)
Benedict Cumberbatch as William Carey
Oliver Coopers as Henry Percy
Ana Torrent as Catherine of Aragon
Eddie Redmayne as William Stafford
Tom Cox as Driver
Michael Smiley as Royal Physician
Montserrat Royg de Puig as Maid
Juno Temple as Jane Parker
Ian Mitchell as Thomas Cromwell
Andrew Garfield as Francis Weston
Mark Lewis Jones as Charles Brandon
Corinne Galloway as Jane Seymour
Alfie Allen as King's Messenger
Joseph Moore as Young Henry
Tiffany Flusberg as Mary Talbot
Bill Willis as Archbishop Cranmer
Joanna Scanlan as Midwife
Blodeth Judge as Young Catherine
Oscar Nagesh as Little Henry
Maisie Smith as Young Elizabeth
Daisy Doitch-Hill as Young Anne
Kitty Fyshett as Young Mary
Fenton Riley as Young George
Emma Knox as Maid
Poppy Hurst as Little Catherine
Constance Stride as Mary I
Story Background:
Set in 16th century England, it tells the story of Henry VIII's extramarital affair and the rivalry between sisters Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn for the position of Queen. Henry VIII disregarded the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, divorced, and remarried.
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