At first, this word was used in calligraphy as a metaphor for painting, and later it was also used to express the idea of seeking nothing and to persuade people to be satisfied. It is mentioned in all three auxiliary records. This allusion reflects that some people may not be as good as the former in calligraphy, but they are better than the latter.
The Final Record of Sanfu is a history book about Sanfu's history and characters written by Zhao Qi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with a total of 7 volumes. This book records the historical events and figures since the Jianwu period of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, and provides important information for future generations to understand the history and culture at that time.
However, the complete version of the book has been lost, leaving only some fragments. This book was annotated by Zhiyu in the Western Jin Dynasty. Although the official version no longer exists, later scholars tried to preserve part of this ancient historical work by compiling and annotating it for future generations to study and understand.
It means better than the last one, but better than the next one. From the Three Auxiliary Records of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Cui and Du are not enough, but more than Luo and Zhao.
Cui and Du are famous calligraphers of the previous generation, who are famous for their cursive scripts. Calligraphers and both are later than Du. There is a man named, who is contemporary with Luo and Zhao.
He is complacent, often making fun of Luo and Zhao's calligraphy, and even writing to his friend Zhu Ci, saying that he is "not as good as Cui and Du, but better than Zhao". That is to say, although his own words are not as good as Cui and Du, they are more than enough than Zhao's attack.
The first half of the sentence is pretentious modesty, because Mrs. Cui Du was already a famous calligrapher in the previous dynasty, and they said they were inferior. Of course, they have to call it a last resort, and the second half is obviously to belittle others and raise themselves.
Later, Zhang Boying's words evolved into "less than the top, more than the bottom", which was widely circulated. Often refers to an intermediate state that is neither good nor bad. But different occasions have different meanings. Sometimes express their mentality of being content with the status quo; Sometimes it is used to comfort others, and then it is used to brag about its original intention.