Real quick, going a bit deeper with the word 谦虚 - a nice, precious "modesty", a ground of any decent relationship or/and human connection. BUUT, composition of this word in Mandarin - 谦 modest + 虚 false, empty, blank. Is there an ugly truth buried in there, that the modest, in fact, might be something false, that we should be aware of ? Your feedback would be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance :)
4 Answers
谦虚 (modesty) is a positive term in Chinese, and its antonyms are words like arrogance or pride. However, the meaning of 谦虚 can shift slightly depending on the context.
For example, if a biography, news report, or other third-person discussion describes someone as very 谦虚, this is genuinely praising that person. However, if someone calls themselves 谦虚, it can imply they’re being insincere or even 虚伪 (false) because this word is generally not used for self-praise.
In Chinese literature and media, if character A has a particular talent, and character B recognizes A’s talent and seeks A’s help, A will often say, “I don’t have much talent,” and B might respond, “Don’t be so 谦虚, everyone knows…” (indicating that A is actually very talented). In this type of exchange, B isn’t complimenting A’s modesty but instead hinting that A shouldn’t pretend otherwise or downplay their abilities.
In everyday life, Chinese people are generally considered quite 谦虚; when complimented, they often instinctively deny the praise as a way of displaying modesty. For instance, if someone is complimented on being beautiful or handsome, they might respond with “哪里哪里” (not really) rather than simply accepting the praise by saying, “Thank you.”
If a person has exceptional talent in some area but publicly downplays it to the point of saying they’re entirely unskilled, they’re either genuinely unaware of their abilities (which is rare) or acting 虚伪 and trying to make a show of humility.
虚 - empty; void, as in "虛無一物" or "膝下猶虛".
《史记》 良贾深藏若虚，君子盛德容貌若愚。- A kind-hearted (rich) merchant would appear as one who "has nothing"(虚) to brag about; a virtually wise person who may appear as "foolish/timid"(愚) from looks. (Both phrases describe the essence of a person considered 谦虚 - self-effacing).
First of all, people usually interpret 谦虚 as 谦 + 虚心, as there are similar compositions such as 谦卑，谦和，谦恭，谦让，谦逊，谦顺.
On the other hand,
Is there an ugly truth buried in there?
Interesting thoughts, which matches to the common expression 过度的谦虚即是虚伪 / Excessive modesty is hypocrisy. In the prose 《谦虚与虚伪》/ Modesty and hypocrisy, the writer 季羡林 argues,
我认为，我们应当提倡真诚的谦虚，而避免虚伪的谦虚，后者与虚伪间不容发矣。
In personal view, we ought to advocate to be modest with honesty, meanwhile avoiding to be modest with falsehood. The latter is tantamount to the fact of hypocrisy.
He additionally roughly discusses about 1. differences of attitudes on modesty among countries and 2. how to judge between being modest with honesty / with falsehood. 季 also writes some critical comments on 康有为. I choose to not quote the sentence here because I don't know 康 and 季 much enough to agree / disagree with 季.
谦虚：虚心,不夸大自己的能力或价值;没有虚夸或自负;不鲁莽或不一意孤行
Maybe 谦虚 originally meant unbrag, lose self-importance 不夸大自己的能力或价值
An old meaning of 谦 is:
谦：丧失：lose, forfeit, forego
虚：不真实的: unreal, false
In all modesty, I see no ugly truth in there.
老实说，我看不出里面有什么丑陋的真相。
