推心置腹

Pronunciation: tuī xīn zhì fù Literal meaning: Push heart, place in belly

Origin & Usage

Liu Xiu, then still King of Xiao and not yet Emperor Guangwu, had taken the surrender of a large force that remained uneasy about its position. He rode out through the ranks on light horse to inspect them, and the surrendered men said to one another that he 推赤心置人腹中, pushed his own red heart into other men's bellies — so how could they not throw their lives away for him? The idiom keeps the gesture: pushing out (推) the heart (心) and setting it (置) inside somebody else (腹). What it describes is trust extended first and without security, which is why it is a leader's phrase. The conversation in which one side deliberately goes first.

Examples

English: "They had a heart-to-heart talk about their concerns."

Chinese: 他们推心置腹地谈论了彼此的担忧。