"Le Bu Si Shu" (So Happy as to Forget Shu) originates from the "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Book of Shu: Biography of the Later Ruler," which tells how Liu Shan, the later ruler of Shu Han, after being relocated to Luoyang by the state of Wei, declared at a banquet, "I am happy here and do not think of Shu," meaning he was content in his new surroundings and felt no longing for his homeland. The idiom originally referred to Liu Shan's indulgence in pleasure and his forgetting of his former kingdom. Later, it came to mean finding joy in a new environment and no longer wishing to return to one's original circumstances, and it also broadly refers to being so delighted as to forget to go back or forgetting one's roots. Its deeper implications include: excessive satisfaction with the present leading to the forgetting of the past or one's origins; it is often used to criticize those who are addicted to pleasure, lack ambition, or betray their fundamental roots. It is mostly used in scenarios describing someone who, because of attachment to the comforts of a new environment, forgets old ties or responsibilities, and it carries a derogatory or teasing tone. In terms of cultural background, it reflects the importance placed on loyalty and not forgetting one's roots in traditional Chinese culture. Emotionally, it is usually derogatory, but it can also be used in a lighthearted context to describe having so much fun that one does not want to go home.
📝 Example
1. After going abroad to study, he lived in comfort and pleasure, and to the point of forgetting home, rarely even writing letters. (Describing someone who indulges in the pleasures of a new environment and forgets home and family.)
2. The children had such a good time at the amusement park that they were reluctant to leave, and would not go until it got dark. (Describing having so much fun that one is unwilling to leave.)