During the Eastern Han Dynasty, a 14-year-old girl named Cao E from Shangyu, Zhejiang, tragically lost her father when he drowned in the river. Determined to find his body, she leaped into the same waters, but she too perished.
The magistrate of Shangyu, Du Shang, was so moved by her filial devotion that he commissioned the brilliant thirteen-year-old Handan Chun to compose a eulogy, which was then carved into a stone stele—this became the famed Cao'e Stele.
The famous writer Cai Yong, after reading the inscription, greatly admired Handan Chun's literary talent and wrote eight characters on the back of the stele: "Yellow silk, young woman, grandson's mortar." At the time, no one understood what these eight characters meant.
Later, Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Cao, passed by the stele with his chief clerk Yang Xiu following. Seeing the eight characters inscribed by Cai Yong, Cao Cao asked Yang Xiu, "Do you know what they mean?"
Yang Xiu replied, "I do know. 'Yellow silk' is colored silk; the character for 'silk' next to 'color' forms the character 'jue' (unsurpassed). 'Young girl' is a maiden; the character for 'woman' next to 'few' forms the character 'miao' (wonderful). 'Grandson' is the child of a daughter; the character for 'woman' next to 'child' forms the character 'hao' (good). 'Ji' is spicy garlic paste or minced scallions, and 'ji jiu' is the mortar for pounding garlic—a vessel that receives pungent things; the two characters 'receive' and 'pungent' combine to form the character 'ci' (rhetoric). This is Cai Yong's praise for the inscription: 'Unsurpassed Wonderful Good Rhetoric'!"
Cao Cao was deeply impressed by Yang Xiu's remarkable talent.
Later, people used the idiom "Yellow Silk, Young Woman" to praise exceptionally well-written poetry.
Source: *A New Account of the Tales of the World*, Chapter "Quick Wit"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "黄绢幼妇" came to describe how to praise exceptionally well-written poetry.