水落石出

Pronunciation: shuǐ luò shí chū Literal meaning: Water recedes, stones appear

Origin & Usage

Su Shi supplies the image in the second of his Red Cliff rhapsodies, returning to the river in winter: the mountains high, the moon small, the water fallen (水落) and the stones showing (石出). He was describing a landscape, not a principle. What made the line into an idiom is that the mechanism is so plainly right — nothing is uncovered by effort, only by the water going down, so the truth emerges through the passage of time rather than through anyone's investigation. Scandals and disputes, usually from whoever is content to wait.

Examples

English: "After the scandal, the truth finally came to light, revealing the real issues at hand."

Chinese: 在丑闻之后，真相终于浮出水面，揭示了真正的问题。