During the Northern Song Dynasty, two close friends shared a deep bond: Xie Yi of Linchuan, Jiangxi, and Pan Dalin of Huangzhou, Hubei. Though both were poor, they were talented poets, well-known in literary circles. Living far apart, they stayed in touch through letters, exchanging poems and refining their craft.
Once, Xie Wuyi, thinking of his friend Pan Dalin, sent a letter asking, "Have you written any new poems lately? I'd love to feast my eyes on them."
For his friend's concern, Pan Dalin was deeply grateful and immediately wrote back, saying in the letter:
"Recently, with the crisp autumn air and the delightful scenery, it's easy to be inspired to write poetry," the poet lamented. "But what a nuisance that vulgar, mundane affairs always disrupt my mood and ruin my poetic inspiration. Yesterday, as I lay in bed, listening to the wind howling outside the window and the rain beating against the autumn forest, a surge of poetic fervor struck me. I quickly rose, dipped my brush in thick ink, and on the white wall wrote the line, 'The city is filled with wind and rain as the Double Ninth Festival nears.' But no sooner had I written that single line than a tax collector suddenly barged in, and my burgeoning inspiration was completely shattered. So now, I can only send you this one line of verse."
Because this line of poetry vividly and accurately captures the bleak autumn scene of wind and rain stripping the landscape of its color, even though it was never completed into a full poem, it remains equally beloved and widely praised.
"The idiom 'a city full of wind and rain' originally described autumn scenery; later it came to mean news spreading quickly, causing widespread discussion."
Source: *Lengzhai Night Talks*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "满城风雨" came to describe how news spreading quickly causing widespread discussion.