(idiom) to beg for food or money in public; to fall into deep poverty or wander about in destitution. This is an allusion to the story of [[伍子胥|伍子胥|wu3 zi3 xu1]] who, while fleeing to the state of Wu, was forced to play the flute to beg for food in the marketplace.

virtuoso player of the xiao (vertical mouth organ); metaphor for a beautiful woman, a romantic tryst, or an ideal couple, based on the legend of [[箫史|蕭史|xiao1 shi3]] (whose playing won the daughter of Duke Mu of Qin) or Du Mu's poem referring to a beauty in Yangzhou