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Reader question: Please explain this sentence, “stripes” in particular: “When you come to a large city from the provinces, you know, you’ve got to earn your stripes.” My comments: Here, the speaker addresses the fact that people from the provinces often have to work doubly hard in order to prove themselves in a large city where locals tend to distrust and look down upon people from small cities and the countryside. In other words, you’ve got to earn your stripes, meaning nobody will give you anything, you’ve got to work for everything, earn it. Stripes refer to the narrow stripes of braid embroidered on the shoulders of army men to distinguish their rank or experience. The higher the rank or experience (length of service), the more stripes one gets to wear. For example, an army man wearing three stripes on the arm is more distinguished than one with two or just one stripe. In our example, “earn your stripes” is a metaphor because there are no real stripes, stars or badges to earn in an ordinary walk of life in the city. Instead, by saying one has to earn their stripes in a large city, the speaker means to point out that the outsider has to work hard to earn the trust and respect of the city dweller, who may harbor all sorts of prejudices against their fellowmen from the countryside. In Beijing, for example, outsiders are called “those from other places” and are often jeered and sneered at for things like their different lifestyle habits. | 
