Confucius began teaching privately at thirty, and within a few years his fame attracted a flood of disciples. But it wasn't until he turned fifty that Duke Ding of Lu appointed him as steward of Zhongdu (present-day Wenshang, Shandong). Within a year of taking office, Zhongdu was thriving. The next year, the Duke promoted him to Minister of Public Works, and later to Minister of Justice and Public Security. However, Confucius held this post only briefly. At fifty-five, displeased that Duke Ding had accepted a gift of beautiful women from the state of Qi, he left Lu with his disciples.
Confucius traveled through the states of Wei, Chen, and Song, but none would accept him. So he went to the state of Zheng, only to be separated from his disciples outside the eastern gate of the capital. He stood alone beneath the city gate, waiting.
His disciple Zigong anxiously searched everywhere for Confucius. A man from Zheng asked who he was looking for, and he replied urgently, "Oh, I am looking for my teacher. Have you seen him?"
The man from Zheng replied, "At the East Gate there is an old man, oddly shaped and very strange. His forehead resembles Emperor Yao's, his neck resembles Gao Yao's, his shoulders resemble Zichan's. But his listless demeanor is exactly like a dog from a mourning family. I wonder if he is your master?"
Zigong hurried to the East Gate, found Confucius, and truthfully repeated what the man from Zheng had said. Confucius smiled and replied, "He compared me to this and that, which may not be accurate; but saying I look like a mourning dog—that's right! That's right!"
Later, the idiom "a homeless dog" came to describe someone who has lost their support and has nowhere to turn, or a person who is down and out.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Hereditary House of Confucius"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "丧家之犬" came to describe how someone has lost their support and has nowhere to turn, or a person who is down and out.