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I've heard that there are different schools of ci poetry, the unrestrained school and the subdued school. In very plain terms I've understood this as the "positive school" and the "negative school".

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给男孩起的名字一般要大气磅礴，明朗潇洒，男性色彩明显的，比如“崇”“栋”等。给女孩起的名字一般温柔婉约，明艳动人具有女性色彩，比如“婷”“静”等。

gěi nánhái qǐ de míngzi yībān yào dàqì pángbó ，mínglǎng xiāosǎ ，nánxìng sècǎi míngxiǎn de ，bǐrú “chóng ”“dòng ”děng 。gěi nǚhái qǐ de míngzi yībān wēnróu wǎnyuē ，míngyàn dòngrén jùyǒu nǚxìng sècǎi ，bǐrú “tíng ”“jìng ”děng 。

When naming a boy normally you need an imposing and impressive name, which is straight-forward and exudes confidence and is clearly masculine, like "崇", meaning "lofty" or "worship" and "栋", meaning "ridgepole". When giving a girl a name normally you need a gentle and graceful name, bright, colorful and moving with feminine characteristics, like "婷", meaning "graceful" and "静", meaning "quiet".

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这种外交语言“含蓄性”的特点，可一直追溯到先秦时代。同时，先秦时期的外交辞令也开创了我国有史料记载的外交辞令的先河。无论是春秋时期委婉恭敬的君子风度还是战国时期酣畅激扬的雄辩气势，无外乎都以“含蓄性”为基本主题。

zhèzhǒng wàijiāo yǔyán “hánxù xìng ”de tèdiǎn ，kě yīzhí zhuīsù dào xiān Qín shídài 。tóngshí ，xiān Qín shíqī de wàijiāo cílìng yě kāichuàng le wǒguó yǒu shǐliào jìzǎi de wàijiāo cílìng de xiānhé 。wúlún shì chūnqiū shíqī wěiwǎn gōngjìng de jūnzǐ fēngdù háishì Zhànguó shíqī hānchàng jīyáng de xióngbiàn qìshì ，wúwàihū dōu yǐ “hánxù xìng ”wèi jīběn zhǔtí 。

The veiled nature of this diplomatic language can be traced back to the pre-Qin era. At the same time, diplomatic rhetoric in the pre-Qin era served as the source of China's recorded history of diplomatic rhetoric. Whether it is the noble deferential euphemistic style of the Spring and Autumn Period or the unrestrained rousing oratory style of the Warring States Period, they are all, without exception, within the basic theme of veiled speech.

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有些国人也戏谑地把“外交辞令”称为"没有错误的废话"。虽然是“废话”，可在国与国交往的重要场合中，“外交辞令”却是非用不可。外交辞令往往委婉含蓄，隐藏着“潜台词”。

yǒuxiē guórén yě xìxuè de bǎ “wàijiāo cílìng ”chēngwéi "méi yǒu cuòwù de fèihuà "。suīrán shì “fèihuà ”，kě zài guó yǔ guó jiāowǎng de zhòngyào chǎnghé zhōng ，“wàijiāo cílìng ”què shì fēiyòng bù kě 。wàijiāo cílìng wǎngwǎng wěiwǎn hánxù ，yǐncáng zhe “qián táicí ”。

Some Chinese people jokingly refer to diplomatic rhetoric as "precise nonsense". Although it's "nonsense", diplomatic rhetoric is indispensable in important interactions between countries. Diplomatic rhetoric is often indirect and veiled, hiding implicit words.

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那么先看春秋时期，春秋时期的外交辞令简言之就是以“吟诗”为主要形式，这儿的“诗”，指的正是我国第一部诗歌总集《诗经》，《诗经》是周礼的象征，工于委婉，这与外交语言需符合“礼”的观念不谋而合，以至于在《左传》中所记录的外交辞令中“引诗七十五则”，引用《诗经》数量之多也让后人叹为观止。

nàme xiān kàn chūnqiū shíqī ，chūnqiū shíqī de wàijiāo cílìng jiǎnyán zhī jiùshì yǐ “yínshī ”wéi zhǔyào xíngshì ，zhèr de “shī ”，zhǐ de zhèngshì wǒguó dì yī bù shīgē zǒngjí 《shījīng 》，《shījīng 》shì Zhōu Lǐ de xiàngzhēng ，gōngyú wěiwǎn ，zhè yǔ wàijiāo yǔyán xū fúhé “lǐ ”de guānniàn bùmóuérhé ，yǐzhìyú zài 《zuǒzhuàn 》zhōng suǒ jìlù de wàijiāo cílìng zhōng “yǐn shī qīshí wǔ zé ”，yǐnyòng 《shījīng 》shùliàng zhī duō yě ràng hòurén tànwèiguānzhǐ 。

So, first let's look at the Spring and Autumn Period. In simple terms, the diplomatic rhetoric of the Spring and Autumn Period was mainly in the form of reciting poetry. Here "poetry" refers to China's first anthology of poems, the Book of Songs (Shijing). The Shijing was a symbol for the Rites of Zhou, with its ability for euphemism, this diplomatic language needed to be in line with the concept of rites, to the extent that there are 75 instances of nobles citing poems in diplomatic rhetoric recorded in the Commentary of Zuo, the amount of references to the Shijing is amazing to see looking back.

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由此可见，大夫们引用《诗经》都是十分客气委婉又恰如其分地表达了两位诸侯此行的目的。几轮交锋过后，晋侯始终未表态，但已有所动摇。

yóucǐ kějiàn ，dàifu men yǐnyòng 《shījīng 》dōu shì shífēn kèqi wěiwǎn yòu qià rú qí fèn de biǎodá le liǎng wèi zhūhóu cǐ xíng de mùdì 。jǐ lún jiāofēng guòhòu ，jìnhóu shǐzhōng wèi biǎotài ，dàn yǐ yǒusuǒ dòngyáo 。

From this one can see that when the senior official quoted the Book of Songs it was an indirect and appropriate way of expressing the motive of the visit by the two dukes. After several confrontations, the Marquis of Jin didn't declare his position, but was swayed to some extent.

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外交辞令虽然委婉含蓄，可是力量强大，由此可见，自古外交辞令在外交交涉中就有着举足轻重的作用。

wàijiāo cílìng suīrán wěiwǎn hánxù ，kěshì lìliang qiángdà ，yóucǐ kějiàn ，zì gǔ wàijiāo cílìng zài wàijiāo jiāoshè zhōng jiù yǒuzhe jǔzúqīngzhòng de zuòyòng 。

Although diplomatic rhetoric is indirect and veiled, it is very powerful. From this we can see that from ancient times, diplomatic rhetoric has played a decisive role in diplomatic negotiations.

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