走马看花

Pronunciation: zǒu mǎ kàn huā Literal meaning: Galloping horse views flowers

Origin & Usage

This descends from Meng Jiao's poem on passing the imperial examination: 春风得意马蹄疾，一日看尽长安花 — with the spring wind at his back and the hooves quick, he sees all the flowers of Chang'an in a single day. The original is pure elation. The later idiom keeps the horse (走马) and the flowers (看花) but reverses the judgement, so that seeing everything quickly now means seeing nothing properly. It is also written 走马观花. It names the hurried look that takes in everything and registers none of it.

Examples

English: "The whirlwind tour gave tourists only a superficial impression of the country's culture"

Chinese: 匆忙的旅行只给游客留下了对这个国家文化的肤浅印象