抬杠 (táigàng) Argue & 放鸽子 (fàng gēzi) Fail to Keep an Appointment

抬杠(táigàng) to argue for the sake of arguing

Where does the phrase originate from?

In the north of China in early times, there existed a custom called “抬杠会(táigànghuì)” argue meeting. On the day of Lantern Festival, some strong men carried the bamboo “杠(gàng), ” on …