Bian Shao, styled Xiaoxian, was a renowned scholar from Junyi, Chenliu (modern-day Kaifeng, Henan) during the Eastern Han Dynasty. As a young man, he mastered the Confucian classics and wrote excellent essays, attracting hundreds of students from far and wide to study under him.
Bian Shao was a strict teacher. One day, seeing his students nodding off in class, he told them a story from the *Analects*: "Once, Confucius's student Zai Yu dozed off during the day. Confucius was furious and said, 'Rotten wood cannot be carved, and a wall of dung cannot be plastered. What use is it to criticize someone like Zai Yu?'"
The students were deeply moved by the story, and from that day on, no one dared to doze off during class.
As Bian Shao grew older, his body gradually became portly, giving him quite a potbellied appearance from the side. One afternoon, while reading in his study, he unknowingly propped his cheek on his hand and dozed off.
The sound of snoring startled the students in the outer room. Rushing in, they stood wide-eyed and dumbfounded—their teacher, who had once used Confucius's own words to criticize others for dozing off during the day, was now caught in the very same act. How could this not leave them utterly astonished?
Returning to the outer room, the students immediately began buzzing with chatter. One student who had been scolded before said, "So even the Master himself naps during the day—no wonder he has such a big belly! But when we're exhausted, he won't let us doze off. How can that be fair? Let's make up a rhyme about him!" He then improvised: "Bian Xiao, with belly so round, too lazy to read, just wants to sleep." Everyone applauded in agreement.
At this point, Bian Shao had already woken up, tiptoed to the door, listened quietly for a while, then came out and replied with a rhyme:
"Bian is my surname, Xiao is my style name. My belly is full, a bamboo box packed with the Five Classics. When I want to sleep, I ponder the classics. In dreams I converse with the Duke of Zhou; in stillness I share the mind of Confucius. If you, my teacher, may mock me, from what classic does your mockery come?"
The students, filled with shame, hung their heads low. From that day on, Bian Shao continued to teach them with the same passion, but he never again dozed off during the day.
Later, the idiom "big belly" came to describe someone with a large, protruding stomach.
Source: *Book of the Later Han*, "Biography of Bian Shao"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "大腹便便" came to describe someone with a large, protruding stomach.