10 Chinese Idioms About Face (面/脸)
Chinese idioms about face culture, reputation, and why "saving face" is so important in Chinese society.
Face (面子, miàn zi) is one of the most important concepts in Chinese social culture. These idioms reveal why reputation, dignity, and social standing matter so deeply in Chinese society.
抛砖引玉
pāo zhuān yǐn yùOffer modest view to inspire better
Literal: Throw brick attract jade
Zhao Gu was the better poet, and Chang Jian wanted a poem out of him. Knowing Zhao Gu would visit the Lingyan Temple, Chang Jian went first and wrote two lines on the wall; Zhao Gu came, saw them, and completed the quatrain. Chang Jian's couplet was much the weaker, which is the point of the anecdot...
Example
She shared her initial idea hoping to inspire better suggestions
她分享了初步想法，希望能激发更好的建议
偷梁换柱
tōu liáng huàn zhùDeceive by substitution
Literal: Steal beam swap pillar
This is the twenty-fifth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: stealing (偷) the beams (梁) and swapping (换) the pillars (柱) while the building still stands. The substitution is made inside a structure that keeps its outward form, so that nothing appears to have changed until weight is put on it. A quiet swap...
Example
The investigation revealed that key data had been subtly altered
调查显示关键数据被巧妙地篡改了
一叶障目
yī yè zhàng mùMiss big picture
Literal: Leaf blocks eye
This descends from the Heguanzi, which observes that a single leaf before the eyes hides the mountain, and two beans in the ears hide the thunder — 一叶蔽目，不见泰山. One (一) leaf (叶) blocks (障) the eye (目) not because it is large but because it is close. The obstruction is trivial and the loss of view is t...
Example
The team got lost in technical details and forgot the project's main goal
团队陷入技术细节而忘记了项目的主要目标
借花献佛
jiè huā xiàn fóMake a gift of something that isn't yours
Literal: Borrow flower offer Buddha
The Buddhist life of the Buddha's former births has the young Sumedha, wanting to make an offering to the buddha Dipankara and owning nothing, buy flowers from a girl who gives them on condition that she share the merit. Borrowing flowers (借花) to offer to the Buddha (献佛) is therefore not condemned i...
Example
He took credit for the team's work during the presentation
他在演示中把团队的工作据为己有
悬梁刺股
xuán liáng cì gǔStudy extremely hard
Literal: Hang beam stab thigh
Two men, two methods. Sun Jing, of the Han, tied his hair to the roof beam (悬梁) so that nodding off would pull him upright. Su Qin, generations earlier, had been sent home from Qin in disgrace after ten memorials went unread, and read through the night with an awl beside him, stabbing (刺) his own th...
Example
She studied late into the night, determined to master the subject
她深夜苦读，决心掌握这门学科
纸上谈兵
zhǐ shàng tán bīngAll theory no practice
Literal: Discuss war on paper
Zhao Kuo had his father's books by heart and could out-argue him on tactics; his father said that war is a matter of life and death and the boy spoke of it far too easily. Qin's agents spread word that the only Zhao general they feared was Zhao Kuo, Zhao replaced the cautious Lian Po with him, and a...
Example
The consultant's theories proved useless when faced with real business challenges
顾问的理论在面对实际商业挑战时证明毫无用处
自相矛盾
zì xiāng máo dùnContradict oneself
Literal: Spear shield contradict self
Han Feizi tells of a man of Chu selling weapons who said of his shields that nothing could pierce them, and of his spears that there was nothing they could not pierce. A bystander asked what would happen if one of his spears were used against one of his shields, and he had no answer. Hence spear (矛)...
Example
The policy's conflicting requirements made implementation impossible
政策中相互矛盾的要求使得实施变得不可能
出类拔萃
chū lèi bá cuìExcellence that outshines all others
Literal: Out of the kind, above the gathered
This one comes from the Mencius, where Confucius is described as having come out from his kind and risen above the gathered crowd — 出于其类，拔乎其萃. To emerge (出) from one's category (类) and stand above (拔) the assembly (萃) is not to be better at the same thing but to be no longer comparable. Somebody who...
Example
Her research paper was clearly superior to all others submitted to the conference
她的研究论文明显优于提交给会议的所有其他论文
庸人自扰
yōng rén zì rǎoCreating unnecessary troubles for oneself
Literal: Mediocre person self-disturbs
This is from the New Book of Tang, on the official Lu Xiangxian, who held that the world is fundamentally without trouble and that mediocre people (庸人) stir it up (自扰) into vexation. The diagnosis is unkind and specific: the difficulty is manufactured, and manufactured by the person now complaining ...
Example
She created imaginary problems and spent days worrying about scenarios that never materialized
她创造了想象中的问题，花了好几天担心那些从未发生的情况
言行一致
yán xíng yī zhìPractice what one preaches
Literal: Words and actions consistent
Words (言) and deeds (行) at one (一致). The Analects sets the standard it assumes — 君子欲讷于言而敏于行, the gentleman wishes to be halting in speech and quick in action — and the ordering matters: the remedy for a gap between the two is taken to be saying less, not achieving more. That is a distinctly Chinese ...
Example
She always practices what she preaches.
她总是言行一致。
Quick Reference
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