<p>well, the wiki had a different version of interpretation of the event of “御史安維峻“.</p>

<p>“御史” is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigating_censor" rel="nofollow noreferrer">“censorate official”</a> in imperial china’s civil bureaucracy</p>

<p>“安維峻”, the romanisation would be (pinyin): an, weijun</p>

<p>then, the <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E7%B6%AD%E5%B3%BB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">wiki</a> mentioned:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>光緒帝怕慈禧太后嚴懲安維峻，乃提前頒上諭，斥責安維峻聽信傳聞，妄言無忌，將安維峻褫職發往軍台效力。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>roughly, the emperor himself issued the order to “strip off” mr an’s post, and sent him away from peking, because the emperor feared empress dowager would issue a more severe punishment.</p>

<p>which interpretation is correct, i’ve no idea.</p>

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2020-02-17T03:06:22.273Z
2020-02-18T18:20:44.667Z
2020-02-18T18:20:44.667Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>“軍台” does not means 烏里雅蘇台 (Uliastai). During the Qing Dynasty, military intelligence are sent between 軍站, 軍塘 and 軍台, from large scaled to small, set from the boundaries to the central (Peking). One of the 軍台 was set in the 張家口 (Kalgan), where 安維峻 was sent to. 
The only thing that 烏里雅蘇台 mentioned was that the 參贊大臣 (an official of military stations of the Qing Dynasty), 志銳 sent him a seal written “隴上鐵漢” when seeing off him.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-18T18:20:14.110Z
forgive me please, i made a mistake. answer is amended.
水巷孑蠻
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2020-02-18T18:06:11.823Z
2020-02-18T18:06:11.823Z
Gamcheong YUEN
<p>翦除羽翼 (Clipping one's wings) is a metaphor for "remove one's power base (assistants and supporters)"</p>

<p>A bird cannot fly without wings  ; an emperor cannot rule without able assistants </p>

<p>羽翼 itself is a metaphor for "power base"</p>

<ul>
<li>羽翼漸豐  (power base is growing stronger and stronger)</li>
</ul>

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2020-02-16T21:28:08.853Z
2020-02-16T21:37:42.717Z
2020-02-16T21:37:42.717Z
Tang Ho
<h2>Background</h2>

<p>In Liang Qichao‘s 戊戌政變記 (<a href="http://www.bnasie.eu/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1505_No-01.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pdf</a>) pretty much at the beginning of the second chapter (pp. 129 and 130 of the linked pdf) mention is made of the Emperor trying to promote several able people of his own and thereby incurring ill feeling of Cixi. Then a figure named An Weileng emerges who writes forthrightly to the Emperor and suggests, since regency was given to His Majesty, that the Dowager abstain from interfering with His matters and (so to speak)  „pulling his sleeve“. Thereupon an edict is cited, ostensibly penned by the Emperor, which - if I understand correctly - claims to heed the suggestion of the Dowager. Therein An is accused of fabricating tales to estrange Their Majesties from each other and exiled to Zhangjiakou as a warning to others.</p>

<h2>Question</h2>

<p>Liang presents the Edict and than says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>實西后翦除皇上羽翼第一事也/ roughly: (This) constitutes the first clipping of His Majesties wings by the Western Palace Dowager.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>But now I am unsure whether 翦除羽翼 means „clipping wings“ as used f.e. in the Greek tradition (limiting, oppressing) or whether 羽翼 means “supporter” as in “ 羽翼漸成”. Should I translate „clipping wings“ or „removing supporters“? Or is it inherently ambiguous?</p>

<h2>Context</h2>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/6Re8t.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/6Re8t.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-17T00:08:44.627Z
hhh, reading 梁启超's writings makes me feel sad that at the end of Qing, 文言文 is no more a beautiful language...
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-17T10:10:08.433Z
@TooskyHierot beautiful or ugly I dare not judge. But at any rate it is incomparably easier than, say, Zhang Taiyan‘s 文言文。
Ludi
<translation><meaning-in-context><literary-chinese>
Clipping the Emperor’s wings
# Clipping the Emperor’s wings

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-02-16)

## Background

In Liang Qichao‘s 戊戌政變記 ([pdf](http://www.bnasie.eu/Asset/Source/bnBook_ID-1505_No-01.pdf)) pretty much at the beginning of the second chapter (pp. 129 and 130 of the linked pdf) mention is made of the Emperor trying to promote several able people of his own and thereby incurring ill feeling of Cixi. Then a figure named An Weileng emerges who writes forthrightly to the Emperor and suggests, since regency was given to His Majesty, that the Dowager abstain from interfering with His matters and (so to speak) „pulling his sleeve“. Thereupon an edict is cited, ostensibly penned by the Emperor, which - if I understand correctly - claims to heed the suggestion of the Dowager. Therein An is accused of fabricating tales to estrange Their Majesties from each other and exiled to Zhangjiakou as a warning to others.

## Question

Liang presents the Edict and than says:

> 實西后翦除皇上羽翼第一事也/ roughly: (This) constitutes the first clipping of His Majesties wings by the Western Palace Dowager.

But now I am unsure whether 翦除羽翼 means „clipping wings“ as used f.e. in the Greek tradition (limiting, oppressing) or whether 羽翼 means “supporter” as in “ 羽翼漸成”. Should I translate „clipping wings“ or „removing supporters“? Or is it inherently ambiguous?

## Context

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/6Re8t.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/6Re8t.jpg)

**Tags:** translation, meaning-in-context, literary-chinese

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: hhh, reading 梁启超's writings makes me feel sad that at the end of Qing, 文言文 is no more a beautiful language...  
> **username_0**: @username_1 beautiful or ugly I dare not judge. But at any rate it is incomparably easier than, say, Zhang Taiyan‘s 文言文。  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-02-16. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

翦除羽翼 (Clipping one's wings) is a metaphor for "remove one's power base (assistants and supporters)"

A bird cannot fly without wings ; an emperor cannot rule without able assistants

羽翼 itself is a metaphor for "power base"

* 羽翼漸豐 (power base is growing stronger and stronger)


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-02-17. Score: 2

well, the wiki had a different version of interpretation of the event of “御史安維峻“.

“御史” is a [“censorate official”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigating_censor) in imperial china’s civil bureaucracy

“安維峻”, the romanisation would be (pinyin): an, weijun

then, the [wiki](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E7%B6%AD%E5%B3%BB) mentioned:

> 光緒帝怕慈禧太后嚴懲安維峻，乃提前頒上諭，斥責安維峻聽信傳聞，妄言無忌，將安維峻褫職發往軍台效力。

roughly, the emperor himself issued the order to “strip off” mr an’s post, and sent him away from peking, because the emperor feared empress dowager would issue a more severe punishment.

which interpretation is correct, i’ve no idea.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-02-18. Score: 0

“軍台” does not means 烏里雅蘇台 (Uliastai). During the Qing Dynasty, military intelligence are sent between 軍站, 軍塘 and 軍台, from large scaled to small, set from the boundaries to the central (Peking). One of the 軍台 was set in the 張家口 (Kalgan), where 安維峻 was sent to.
The only thing that 烏里雅蘇台 mentioned was that the 參贊大臣 (an official of military stations of the Qing Dynasty), 志銳 sent him a seal written “隴上鐵漢” when seeing off him.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: forgive me please, i made a mistake. answer is amended.  

---

