合浦珠還 (Hépǔ zhū huán)

[Daimashin]

合浦珠還 (Hépǔ zhū huán) - regaining something lost.

合浦 (Hépǔ) - a name of a village during the East Han era,

珠還 (zhū huán) - Pearls return.

This folklore is about a village that existed during the East Han era called Hepu. Hepu was famous for having produced a lot of valuable pearls. One day, a corrupt official came and ordered his men to take all of the pearls that were available there. The villagers were left with nothing and had to endure poverty. The clams under the sea heard of this and decided to leave the area as they didn't want their hard work being robbed by the corrupt official.

As time passed, the village became worse because there were no more pearls to harvest. Having seen that the village had nothing else to pillage, the corrupted official left. Not long after, another official came to govern but this time he was a good and clean person. The clams heard of this and decided to return to the village and in the end everything was back to when it was.

合浦珠還 (Hépǔ zhū huán) means that something you thought lost returns to you.

Example:

"本來以為我的手錶已經不見了，沒想到可以找回來. 果然是「合浦珠還」失而復得."