Ruan Ji, also known as Sizong, hailed from Weishi in Chenliu (modern-day Weishi County, Henan) and was a celebrated poet during the turbulent transition from the Wei to the Jin dynasties. Orphaned young and raised in poverty, he rose through diligent study. Though he harbored ambitions to serve the state, Ruan Ji resented the ruling Sima clan but dared not voice his dissent openly. Instead, he adopted a cautious, self-preserving stance—shutting himself away to read, wandering mountains and rivers, drinking himself into stupors, or remaining stubbornly silent. His 82 "Poems of My Heart" are renowned, using veiled language to express both his grief for the nation and his longing to escape the world.
Ruan Ji's close friend Ji Kang was a renowned literary figure of the time who held contempt and disdain for the ruling authorities. The two were especially intimate. However, Ruan Ji was quite unwelcoming toward Ji Kang's elder brother, Ji Xi.
According to historical records, Ruan Ji, a famous poet of the Wei-Jin period, was known for his ability to show "black eyes" or "white eyes." "Black eyes" meant looking straight at someone with the dark part of the eye visible, showing favor; "white eyes" meant looking askance with the white part visible, showing disdain. When Ruan Ji's mother died, the scholar Ji Xi came to offer condolences, and Ruan Ji gave him white eyes. Later, when Ji Kang arrived with wine and a zither to pay his respects, Ruan Ji switched to black eyes. From this story, terms like "to look upon with favor," "to regard kindly," and "to favor with attention" emerged, meaning to request or thank someone for their regard. Meanwhile, describing contempt as "white eyes" gave rise to phrases like "treating someone with white eyes" or "being given the white eye."
Ruan Ji's closest circle included not only Ji Kang but also Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Wang Rong, and his nephew Ruan Xian—seven in total who often gathered together. They would meet beneath the bamboo groves of Shanyang (present-day Xiuwu, Henan), where they chatted, drank freely, composed poetry, and played the zither. When joy struck, they burst into laughter; when sorrow overtook them, they wept without restraint. Their contemporaries called them the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove."
Among the seven, Ruan Ji was perhaps the most eccentric, laughing and crying unpredictably. Yet he always maintained good grace, even when drunk, so the *Book of Jin* says, "When he was pleased, he would suddenly forget himself."
The phrase "so delighted as to forget one's form" is the origin of the idiom "delighted to the point of losing one's composure." Later, this idiom came to describe someone who loses their normal demeanor when overly pleased.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Ruan Ji"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "得意忘形" came to describe how someone who loses their normal demeanor when overly pleased.