胸有成竹

Pronunciation: xiōng yǒu chéng zhú Literal meaning: Bamboo ready in heart

Origin & Usage

This descends from Su Shi's account of the painter Wen Tong of the Northern Song, who held that to paint bamboo (竹) one must first have the finished bamboo complete within the breast (胸有成竹) — and then work fast, before the image fades. The idiom is about the completeness of the mental picture, not about caution. It is also written 成竹在胸. Going in with the whole shape of the thing already settled is the sense, and the contrast is with improvising rather than with recklessness.

Examples

English: "The architect had a complete vision of the building before drawing the first line"

Chinese: 建筑师在画第一笔之前就已经对建筑有了完整的构想