sống thì con chẳng cho ăn Chết thì xôi thịt, làm văn tế trời
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Alive, you gave them nothing to eat; dead, you lay out feasts and read odes to heaven — the verse that shames performative mourning.
Literally: living: the child feeds them nothing; dead: sticky rice, meat, and orations
Sources & notes
Discovered via Vietnamese Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.
Common questions
What does “sống thì con chẳng cho ăn Chết thì xôi thịt, làm văn tế trời” mean?
Alive, you gave them nothing to eat; dead, you lay out feasts and read odes to heaven — the verse that shames performative mourning. Literally: living: the child feeds them nothing; dead: sticky rice, meat, and orations
Is “sống thì con chẳng cho ăn Chết thì xôi thịt, làm văn tế trời” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.