10 Chinese Idioms About Taking Decisive Action

Easily solved once properly approached

Literal: Split apart upon meeting the blade

With Wu's capital nearly taken, Du Yu's officers proposed halting until the following winter. He answered them in council that the army's might was already roused, and that the thing was now like splitting bamboo: after the first few joints the rest comes apart on meeting (迎) the blade (刃) and falls...

Adapt to circumstances; think on one's feet

Literal: Follow opportunity respond to change

Following (随) the moment (机) and responding (应) to change (变). 机 is the pivot or the trigger, the point at which a situation turns, so the phrase is not about general flexibility but about acting on the particular opening as it appears. It comes out of military thinking, where a plan is understood t...

Wielding extraordinary influence over others

Literal: Summon wind, call rain

To summon (呼) the wind (风) and call up (唤) the rain (雨). The image comes from the world of ritual weather-working, and the phrase has kept the sense of power over things that ought not to be controllable. It is rarely admiring. People whose informal influence over an institution or a market exceeds ...

Approach indirectly to achieve goal

Literal: Knock side hit flank

Knocking (敲) at the side (旁) and striking (击) at the flank (侧) rather than asking outright. Despite the vocabulary this is not a military phrase: late-imperial vernacular fiction uses it as a social manoeuvre, circling a subject to draw something out of somebody who would not answer a direct questio...

Absolutely flawless and thorough

Literal: No water drop leaks

So tightly made that not a drop (滴) of water (水) leaks (漏) through it. Vernacular fiction applies it to speech and to plans rather than to roofs — an account with no gap anywhere in it, a scheme with nothing left uncovered — and water is the test because it will find any opening that exists. Alibis,...

Completely helpless without options

Literal: Bind hands no strategy

Hands (手) bound (束) and no (无) plan (策) left. The binding is figurative and the helplessness is intellectual: nothing is preventing the person from acting, there is simply nothing useful left to try. That distinction is what the phrase exists for. It normally describes competent people who have work...

Proceed steadily; consolidate before advancing

Literal: Stable camp, stable attack

Pitching camp (扎) firmly (稳) and striking (打) firmly (稳). The doubled 稳 is the whole instruction: both the halting and the advancing are to be done from a secure position, so no ground is taken that could not be held if the next move failed. It is the same thinking as 步步为营 with the emphasis on sound...

Be invincible; have no rivals

Literal: Wherever directed, no enemies

Wherever (所) it is directed (向), there is no (无) opponent (敌). The difference from 所向披靡 is worth having: that phrase describes opposition being flattened, and this one describes there being none to flatten. The claim concerns the field rather than the fighting — nobody is in a position to make a con...

Win every battle; never fail in attacks

Literal: In attack, nothing is not taken

In attacking (攻), there is nothing (无) not (不) taken (克). 克 is to overcome, and specifically to reduce a position, so the phrase concerns assaults rather than wars: every objective attempted was carried. It is normally the first half of a pair, 攻无不克，战无不胜, and using it alone is slightly unusual. Sale...

Asking someone to sacrifice their core interests

Literal: With tiger plot skin

The original form is 与狐谋皮, negotiating with the fox for its skin — a man who wanted a fur robe put the proposal to the foxes, and wanted meat for a sacrifice and put it to the sheep, and both parties left before he had finished speaking. The tiger (虎) version is the one in common use now. What the p...