10 Chinese Idioms for Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day)

Think about constantly; yearn for

Literal: Think in morning, yearn at night

Thinking (思) at dawn (朝) and thinking again (想) at dusk (暮). The two verbs are near-synonyms and the two times are the ends of the waking span, so the phrase covers a day by naming its edges. It is plainer than 魂牵梦萦 and correspondingly commoner in speech. Absent people, a place somebody wants to get...

Lost in thought with a contemplative expression

Literal: As if having something think

As if (若) there were (有) something (所) being thought about (思). The construction is careful and does the work: it describes an appearance rather than a mental state, so what is being reported is a face, not a thought. That is why it is nearly always used of somebody else. Chinese narrative uses it a...

Be prepared for danger in times of safety

Literal: Dwelling in peace think of danger

The Zuo Zhuan records Wei Jiang declining half the musicians and gifts Zheng had sent, and offering advice instead, in words the Book of Documents had already supplied: 居安思危，思则有备，有备无患 — in safety think of danger, thinking brings preparation, and with preparation there is no calamity. The three claus...

Trace back to source

Literal: Chase root trace source

To chase (追) the root (本) and trace (溯) the source (源). Both halves are the same instruction in different terrain, one botanical and one riverine, and 溯 specifically means moving against the current — the work is upstream and harder than going with it. That is the sense the phrase carries: not merel...

Learn from the worthy

Literal: See worthy wish equal

Confucius in the Analects: seeing (见) a worthy man (贤), think of (思) matching him (齐) — and seeing an unworthy one, turn inward and examine yourself. The second clause is normally left off and is the sharper half, since it makes every encounter instructive regardless of who you meet. What the phrase...

Stay humble and open

Literal: Empty heart like valley

The Daodejing describes the man of old as being, among other things, open as a valley. A chest (怀) held empty (虚) like (若) a valley (谷) takes in whatever comes down into it, and the emptiness is a capacity rather than a lack. Chinese moral vocabulary is consistent about this: the chest is where tole...

Gather wisdom from many

Literal: Gather thoughts wide benefit

Zhuge Liang wrote to his staff that the purpose of a joint office was 集众思，广忠益, to gather the many thoughts and broaden the loyal benefit; the four-character form condenses it to gathering (集) ideas (思) in order to broaden (广) the advantage (益). Coming from a chancellor who could simply have issued o...

Weigh it before you move

Literal: Think three times then act

This one comes from the Analects, on Ji Wenzi, who thought (思) three times (三) before acting (行). The passage is usually quoted as praise, but Confucius's actual response was dry: twice is enough. The idiom therefore recommends something its source gently mocks — deliberation past the point of usefu...

Good and evil deeds repaid in kind

Literal: Cause and effect return

Cause (因), effect (果), and the returning repayment (报应). The vocabulary is Buddhist and entered Chinese with the translated sutras, bringing with it a moral mechanics quite different from the older Chinese idea of heaven's mandate: consequence here is impersonal, exact, and not necessarily settled w...

Return to one's roots; go back home

Literal: Falling leaves return to roots

Fallen (落) leaves (叶) returning (归) to the root (根). The botany carries the argument: the leaf drops at the foot of the tree that made it and goes back into the soil that fed it, so the return is presented as natural process rather than as a decision anybody took. Chinese uses it above all of people...