Chen Shubao, the last emperor of the Southern Chen Dynasty, had a talented and beautiful sister, Princess Lechang. Her husband, Xu Deyan, served as an imperial attendant to the crown prince. The couple was deeply in love and perfectly matched.
Chen Shubao built grand palaces, lived in luxury, and spent his days feasting with concubines and ministers, completely ignoring state affairs. Xu Deyan, a man with keen political insight, foresaw the kingdom's imminent collapse. He confided his worries to Princess Lechang, who grew deeply troubled by the news.
One day, Xu Deyan said solemnly to Princess Lechang, "The world is on the brink of chaos, and we may soon be separated. But if our bond remains unbroken, we will reunite. So we should leave something behind as a token for future recognition."
Princess Lechang reluctantly agreed with her husband's plan. Xu Deyan picked up a round bronze mirror from the dressing table, broke it into two halves, kept one half for himself, and gave the other to his wife, saying, "Once we are separated, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month each year, have someone take this mirror to the market and offer it for sale. As long as I am alive, I will come to the market to seek news, and using my half of the mirror as proof, we will be reunited."
Xu Deyan's prophecy came true. In 589 AD, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, who had unified northern China, conquered the Chen dynasty's capital Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), and Chen Shubao was captured. The minister Yang Su, honored for his role in destroying Chen, was made Duke of Yue and received lavish rewards, including Princess Lechang and fourteen female entertainers. Xu Deyan was forced to flee.
When Princess Lechang arrived at the Sui Dynasty capital of Daxing (modern Xi'an, Shaanxi Province) with the powerful minister Yang Su, she lived in lavish comfort but was tormented by separation from her husband, secretly caressing a broken mirror in solitude to remember him.
Upon learning that his wife might have been taken to Daxing, Xu Deyan embarked on a long journey there, clinging to a faint hope of reunion. He rented a small room to settle in, and in the quiet of the night, he would take out the broken mirror, yearning for her, patiently awaiting the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
The long-awaited day finally arrived. Xu Deyan tucked the half-mirror into his robe early in the morning and headed for the bustling market. After wandering for some time, he suddenly spotted an old man holding up the other half of the bronze mirror, shouting an exorbitant price for its sale. Passersby thought the old man had lost his mind and mocked him.
Xu Deyan recognized at once that the broken mirror in the old man's hand was the half he had given his wife. Overwhelmed with emotion, he stepped forward and said, "Old sir, please sell this broken mirror to me!"
He then pulled the old man into a nearby tavern, took out the half-broken mirror from his pocket, and joined it with the old man's piece. It fit perfectly, forming a complete round bronze mirror. Overcome with emotion, he began to weep.
It turned out the old man was a servant of Yang Su's household, entrusted by Princess Lechang to sell this half-bronze mirror at the market. Xu Deyan told him the story, and the servant was deeply moved, promising to report back to the princess immediately. Xu Deyan then borrowed brush and ink, wrote a poem, and gave it to the servant to deliver to the princess. The poem read:
The mirror and the person departed together, yet the mirror returned while the person did not.
No more Chang'e's shadow remains, only the bright moonlight lingers in vain!
The poem's meaning is this: the mirror and the person are both gone, now the mirror returns but the person does not. It is like the moon without Chang'e's shadow, leaving only the moonlight's radiance!
When Princess Lechang saw the half-mirror and poem her husband had kept, tears of sorrow streamed down her face, and she sobbed uncontrollably. From then on, she wept all day, unable to eat or drink. Under Yang Su's repeated questioning, she finally confessed the truth. Deeply moved, Yang Su decided to reunite the couple. He summoned Xu Deyan, returned Princess Lechang to him in person, and bestowed upon them many gifts, allowing them to return to the Jiangnan region.
Later, people referred to the reunion of a separated or estranged couple as "a broken mirror joined together."
Source: *Benshi Shi*, "Emotions"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "破镜重圆" came to describe a broken mirror joined together.