When we encourage(鼓励) someone,usually say jiayou in Chinese, which means "add oil".do we say so?
is an interesting story behind "add oil".It started with an official (官员) .Zhang Ying(1791-1856). Zhang Ying liyed during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). He was the zhifu (知府) of Xingyi, Guizhou. He wanted encourage more people there to study. He sent lower officials to walk around the city at night buckets (桶) of oil. At the time, people used oil lamps (灯) at night. When these officials heard people reading texts at night in their home, they would knock(敲门) on the door Say."The mayor adds for your lamp!" In this way, Zhang made sure that his city's students could study through the night.Zhang did this for 13 years. Many of his city's young people became scholars (学者). Zhang's son Zhang Zhidong became one of the famous officials of the late Qing Dynasty."Add oil"became everyday phrase.