螳螂捕蝉

Pronunciation: táng láng bǔ chán Literal meaning: Mantis catches the cicada

Origin & Usage

In Liu Xiang's Garden of Persuasions, the King of Wu resolved to attack Chu and warned that anyone who argued against it would die. A young attendant spent three mornings walking the palace garden with a slingshot, soaking his clothes in dew, until the king asked what he was doing. He pointed out a cicada (蝉) drinking dew and singing, unaware of the mantis (螳螂) poised behind it to seize (捕) it; the mantis, intent on its catch, unaware of the oriole beside it; and the oriole unaware of the slingshot below. All three, he said, were fixed on the gain in front of them and blind to the harm behind. The king called off the campaign. The saying is usually completed by 黄雀在后, 'the oriole is behind', and describes anyone so absorbed in a target that they miss the larger threat closing on them. A parallel version appears in the Zhuangzi.

Examples

English: "Fixed on outbidding a rival, the firm never noticed its own debts mounting"

Chinese: 一心想压过对手，公司没察觉自己的债务正在累积