完璧归赵

Pronunciation: wán bì guī zhào Literal meaning: Return jade to Zhao complete

Origin & Usage

Qin offered fifteen cities for Zhao's famous jade disc, and everyone understood the cities would never be handed over. Lin Xiangru carried the jade (璧) to Qin, watched the king pass it round his court without a word about payment, and said there was a flaw he would point out — got it back into his own hands, stood against a pillar and promised to shatter it and his own skull together. While Qin stalled, he had the jade smuggled back to Zhao (赵) whole (完), and offered his own life instead. The Records of the Grand Historian tells it. He was not killed, and he had returned (归) it intact.

Examples

English: "The courier safely delivered the precious artifact to the museum"

Chinese: 快递员安全地将珍贵文物送到了博物馆