Swallows and Sparrows, Swans and Geese

"Chen Sheng, Sharing His Dreams."

(The setting is a rice field in China during the Qin Dynasty. During a break from farm work--)

[Characters]
Chen Sheng:A revolutionary who will later carve his name into history. But for now, just a humble farmer.

Wu Guang:Chen Sheng's best friend. The straight man.

Mob Farmers:Supporting characters who laugh a lot.

Chen Sheng: "Hey Wu Guang, if I ever make it big, I won't forget about you!"

Wu Guang: "Oh? Make it big? You? The third-degree black belt in weeding?"

Mob Farmer A: "First you've got to beat the speed at which the weeds grow, Chen-chan!"

(Everyone laughs out loud)

Chen Sheng: (Looks up at the sky sharply)
"...How can a swallow or a sparrow know the ambitions of a swan or a goose!"

(Silence falls over the area)

Wu Guang: "Hmm? Swallow...? Swan...? What kind of magical words are you adding to the end of your sentence?"

Mob Farmer B: "Is that a new variety of rice?"

Chen Sheng: "No, it's not! It means swallows and sparrows can't understand the dreams of a great bird—a swan!"

Wu Guang: "Ah, yeah, yeah. So you're saying we're the sparrows and you're the swan, right?"

Mob Farmer A: "I see, so you're the hope of the swan world, huh!"

Chen Sheng: "Stop laughing! I'm serious!"

(Scene change: A few years later, the eve of the rebellion against the Qin Dynasty)

Wu Guang: "Hey Chen Sheng, are we really doing this? A rebellion..."

Chen Sheng: "How can kings, nobles, generals, and ministers be born of a specific lineage!!"

Wu Guang: "That's a pretty magical line, too..."

Mob Farmer B: "Maybe it's just a new type of rice."

(At the head of an army of tens of thousands, Chen Sheng shouts)

Chen Sheng: "Now is the time to take flight! In a world of swallows and sparrows, the time has come for the great swan to soar through the sky!!"

(In a narrative style)

After this, Chen Sheng briefly becomes a "king," but within a year, he is swallowed by the waves of history.
Even so, his line, "How can swallows and sparrows know the ambitions of a swan?"
has been passed down through the ages as a message saying, "Do not laugh at big dreams."

★Bonus: A word from Wu Guang
Wu Guang: "Still, the one who speaks their dreams is the one who wins.
At the very least, I'll listen with a smile, so don't be shy and tell me about them."

(Supplementary Material)

<Original Classical Chinese>
Chen She, when young, once worked as a hired laborer for others. He stopped plowing, went up to a ridge, and felt deeply resentful for a long time. He said, "If I ever become wealthy and noble, I will not forget you all." The hired laborers laughed and replied, "You are a hired laborer, how could you ever become wealthy and noble?" Chen She sighed deeply and said, "Alas, how can swallows and sparrows know the ambitions of a swan?"

<Classical Japanese Reading>
When Chen She was young, he once worked as a hired laborer for others. He stopped plowing, went up to a ridge, and felt deeply resentful for a long time. He said, "If I ever become wealthy and noble, I will not forget you all."
The hired laborers laughed and replied, "You are a hired laborer, how could you ever become wealthy and noble?"
Chen She sighed deeply and said, "Alas, how can swallows and sparrows know the ambitions of a swan?"

<Interpretation>
When Chen She (Chen Sheng) was young, he was hired by others to plow fields. One day, he stopped working, climbed a small hill in the field, and after being lost in thought for a while, he said to his companions:
"If I ever become rich and powerful, I won't forget you all."
Hearing this, his companions laughed and said:
"You're just a hired laborer plowing fields. How could you ever become powerful?"
Chen She sighed and said:
"Alas, how could small birds like swallows and sparrows understand the ambitions of great birds like swans and storks? No, they could never understand."

<Reference Material>

"How can swallows and sparrows know the ambitions of a swan?" — Source, Meaning, and Historical Background

1. Source and Definition

"Yanjue an zhi honghu zhi zhi zai" (How can swallows and sparrows know the ambitions of a swan?) is a quote from Chen Sheng (Chen She), a rebel leader at the end of the Qin Dynasty, found in the Records of the Grand Historian, Volume 48, "Biography of Chen She." This chapter is known for being the first time Sima Qian used the "Shijia" (Hereditary Houses) section to focus on a commoner who was not a feudal lord, a groundbreaking structure. In Sima Qian's writing, one can sense an intention to respect individual ambition that transcends class society.

This phrase is a lament from when the young Chen Sheng spoke of his future success to his fellow farm workers and was mocked by those around him. "Yanjue" (swallows and sparrows) refers to small birds, while "Honghu" (swans and storks) refers to large birds, widely symbolizing "those with great ambition." In other words, it means that small-minded people (swallows and sparrows) can never understand the ambitions of a hero (a swan) who harbors great aspirations.

This expression later came to be widely used as a set phrase, often employed with irony or pride to highlight the differences in a person's capacity or the loftiness of their ideals.

2. The Rebellion of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang: Historical Background and Aftermath

Although Chen Sheng (Chen She) and Wu Guang were both of humble origins, they are regarded in Chinese history as the leaders of the first full-scale peasant uprising, having been the first to take up arms against the tyranny and oppression of the Qin regime.

After the death of Qin Shi Huang, as political corruption under his successor Hu Hai (Qin Er Shi) and the eunuch Zhao Gao intensified, the dissatisfaction of the common people—who were suffering under strict laws, heavy taxes, and forced labor—reached a breaking point. In particular, those conscripted for corvée labor, such as guarding the Great Wall, were placed in harsh conditions where they faced the death penalty if they failed to reach their destinations by the deadline due to severe natural conditions.

In 209 BCE, while Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were on their way to Xianyang (the Qin capital) as conscripted soldiers, it became clear that they would not arrive on time due to bad weather. Deciding that they would be executed regardless, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang resolved to revolt in Chen County (present-day Huaiyang District, Zhoukou City, Henan Province).

They exploited the superstitious beliefs of the masses, secretly faking an oracle in an abandoned temple and using cloth inscribed with the words "Great Chu shall rise, Chen Sheng shall be king" to elevate Chen Sheng as one who had received the "Mandate of Heaven." This could be described as a tactical manipulation of information. Soon, their forces expanded rapidly, growing into a rebel army of tens of thousands. Chen Sheng established his base in the former capital of Chen, proclaimed the state of "Zhang Chu," and declared himself king.

At this time, he uttered another famous phrase: "How can kings, nobles, generals, and ministers be determined by birth?" This meant that kings and generals are not decided by bloodline, and that even commoners like them could attain such positions, expressing a revolutionary ideology against the class society of the time.

However, Chen Sheng's regime struggled with internal control, and instances of arbitrary decision-making and discord with his generals began to stand out. Some of his subordinates became independent, and defectors followed one after another. Chen Sheng dispatched his generals Zhang Er and Chen Yu, but he could not maintain control, and he was eventually assassinated by Zhuang Jia, a general in his own rebel army, only half a year later.

3. The Ideological Significance of the Story

The phrase "Swallows and sparrows cannot understand the ambitions of a swan" can be interpreted as expressing the budding of an individualism that respects ambitions transcending mere social status. It contains a perspective that fundamentally questions the Confucian order of rites and music, and resonates with Sima Qian's philosophy that "a scholar dies for one who understands him." Furthermore, this phrase was likely not just an expression of a rebellious spirit, but also a self-projection onto the intellectual class, suggesting that "those who hold ambitions should act regardless of the ridicule of the vulgar."

On the other hand, a story often confused with this one is the "Ambition of the Great Peng" from the "Enjoyment of Untroubled Ease" chapter of the Zhuangzi. This story uses the giant bird Peng—which transforms from a fish named Kun in the Northern Sea—to illustrate a state of carefree freedom. It is often misused as "How can swallows and sparrows understand the ambition of the Peng?" but since the source and context are different, this confusion should be avoided.

4. Conclusion

"How can swallows and sparrows understand the ambitions of a swan" is a phrase about the extraordinary ambition that lies dormant within the ordinary, and a quiet pushback against the commoners who laugh at it. Although Chen Sheng's actions were not ultimately successful, his rebellion led to the subsequent uprisings of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, eventually bringing the Qin Dynasty to its end.

Those who speak of their ambitions are always met with ridicule. However, it is also a fact that history has often been moved by such ambitious individuals. The reason Sima Qian granted this mere peasant the title of "Hereditary House" (Shijia) is precisely because he held his ambitions in high regard.