10 Chinese Idioms from Famous Fables & Stories You Should Know

Wait passively for luck

Literal: Guard tree wait rabbit

This Warring States period parable tells of a farmer who, after seeing a rabbit die by running into a tree stump (株), waited (待) endlessly for more rabbits (兔) at the same spot. His guard (守) of the stump became a classic example of misguided persistence and inflexible thinking. The story appeared i...

Borrow authority to intimidate

Literal: Fox uses tiger's power

This idiom emerged from a Warring States period fable where a fox (狐) borrowed (假) the authority (威) of a tiger (虎) to intimidate other animals. The story first appeared in the Zhan Guo Ce, using the clever fox and powerful tiger to criticize political parasites who derived their influence from powe...

Narrow-minded from limited experience

Literal: Frog at well bottom

This limited idiom describes a frog (蛙) living at the bottom (底) of a well (井), originating from the Warring States period text 'Zhuangzi.' It tells of a frog who believed its well contained the whole world, until a sea turtle described the immensity of the ocean, revealing the frog's provincial per...

Professed love hiding actual fear

Literal: Lord Ye loves dragons

This ironic tale tells of Lord Ye (叶公) who professed to love (好) dragons (龙) but fled in terror when faced with a real one. During the Six Dynasties period, it became a standard criticism of superficial appreciation without genuine understanding. The dragon imagery carried particular weight in Chine...

Present to wrong audience

Literal: Play zither to cow

This satirical idiom describes playing (弹) the guqin zither (琴) to (对) a cow (牛), originating from the Warring States period. Historical records attribute it to musician Gongming Yi, who attempted to perform sophisticated melodies for a cow that continued grazing, completely indifferent to the refin...

Ruin by adding extras

Literal: Draw snake add feet

The ancient parable tells of an artist who lost a wine-drinking contest because he spent extra time adding legs to his snake drawing (画蛇添足). The story entered common usage during the Han Dynasty as a warning against ruining sufficiency through unnecessary additions. Today it reminds us how overelabo...

Needlessly suspicious

Literal: Bow in cup snake shadow

This tale from the Jin Dynasty chronicles a scholar who saw a bow's (弓) reflection in his cup (杯), mistaking it for a snake (蛇) shadow (影). His subsequent illness from fear only subsided when he discovered the truth. First recorded in 'Jin Shu', the story resonated with Buddhist teachings about how ...

Using outdated methods foolishly

Literal: Mark boat to find sword

This misguided idiom describes marking (刻) a boat (舟) to locate (求) a sword (剑) that has fallen into water, originating from the Spring and Autumn period text 'Lüshi Chunqiu.' It tells of a man who dropped his sword from a boat into a river. Instead of accounting for the river's flow, he marked the ...

Showing amateur skills to masters

Literal: Show carpentry to Lu Ban

This presumptuous idiom describes displaying (弄) axe skills (斧) before Lu Ban's door (班门), the legendary master craftsman, originating from a Tang Dynasty poem by Li He. Lu Ban, revered as China's patron deity of carpentry, represented unsurpassed craftsmanship. The poet used this image to express h...

Persistence overcomes huge obstacles

Literal: Foolish old man moves mountains

This persistent idiom tells of a determined old man (愚公) who began removing (移) mountains (山) that blocked his path, originating from the 'Liezi' during the Warring States period. When ridiculed for attempting such an impossible task at his advanced age, he replied that while he might die, his desce...