One more thing for Mother’s Day.

孟母三遷
mou.bo.san.sen

Literally: [Mencius] – mother – three – change

Alternately: The importance of creating or finding an environment that aids a child’s education. Mencius’ mother, the story goes, changed between three different residences because she was unhappy with her son’s behavior when they lived near a cemetery and then a marketplace. Finally they ended up near a school, which influenced the boy to become a scholar, and his mother was satisfied.

Notes: As is probably obvious from the first character, this is another four-character compound handed down from Chinese Antiquity. It’s well-known enough in the modern day, too, to have its own wikipedia page.

The name “Mencius” is more properly written 孟子 (Moushi); the single-character form above is shorthand.

Not sure how they’re supposed to have fit in their house anyway. Source.