Relationships & Character Chinese Idioms

Exactly identical

One (一) mould (模) and one (一) appearance (样) — two castings taken from the same form, which in bronze work means they are not merely similar but the s...

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Treat others as yourself

To exchange (换) one heart (心) for another, using (以) your own as the thing you give. The image is of trust as a swap rather than a demand: you put you...

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Accept all with open mind

The sea (海) takes in (纳) a hundred (百) rivers (川) and is still the sea — that is the whole argument, and it is why the image is the sea and not a lake...

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Value harmony above all

This descends from the Analects, where Master You says that in the working of ritual, harmony (和) is what is precious (贵) — 礼之用，和为贵. The claim is more...

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Face challenges together

This idiom shares deep connections with China's river-centric civilization, where crossing (济) together (共) in the same boat (同舟) was often a matter o...

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Share hardships together

Sharing a boat (同舟) through wind (风) and rain (雨). The Sunzi supplies the underlying observation: the men of Wu and the men of Yue hate one another, b...

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Gentle, nurturing influence

This is from the Mencius, which counts among a teacher's modes the one who transforms a student as a timely rain does — the spring wind (春风) and the r...

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Borrow authority to intimidate

A tiger caught a fox, and the fox said heaven had made it lord of the beasts, so eating it would be defying heaven — walk behind me and see whether an...

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Neighbours look out for each other

To keep watch (守望) and help one another (相助). The phrase appears in the Mencius, in the description of the well-field system, where families holding l...

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Love extends to all connections

Loving (爱) a house (屋) and extending that (及) even to the crows (乌) on its roof. The formulation comes from an early gloss on the Zhou conquest — he w...

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Words carry great weight

The nine bronze cauldrons cast by Yu were the physical emblem of the mandate, passed from dynasty to dynasty and impossibly heavy. The Records of the ...

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Keep secrets well

To guard (守) the mouth (口) like (如) a stoppered jar (瓶). Zhu Xi paired it with a second clause that is usually quoted alongside — 守口如瓶，防意如城, guard the...

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Unity creates strength

This architectural metaphor shows how many wills (众志) can form (成) an impenetrable wall (城), drawing from ancient Chinese defensive architecture. It g...

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Keep integrity without compromise

To keep to (守) what is upright (正) and not (不) bend (阿). 阿 is the load-bearing character: it means to lean toward, to curry favour, to give someone th...

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Help in time of need

To send (送) charcoal (炭) into (中) the snow (雪). What the image fixes is timing rather than generosity: charcoal is cheap, and in a snowstorm it is the...

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Instant friendship

倾盖 is what happens when two carriages stop alongside on the road and their canopies tilt toward one another — the drivers have paused to talk. Zou Yan...

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Return something perfect

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...

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Remember your roots

Yu Xin, writing in the sixth century, put it as 落其实者思其树，饮其流者怀其源 — who eats the fruit thinks of the tree, who drinks from the stream remembers its sour...

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Keep promises faithfully

Ji Bu of the early Han was reliable enough that a saying circulated in Chu: a hundred catties of gold are worth less than one promise (一诺) from Ji Bu ...

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Speak without meaning it

The Zuo Zhuan observes that where trust does not come from within — 信不由中 — pledges are worthless however elaborately they are dressed up. Words (言) th...

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Words differ from thoughts

The mouth (口) says yes (是), the heart (心) says no (非). 是 and 非 are the standard classical pair for right and wrong as well as for assent and denial, s...

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Balance excellence with social harmony

The Record of Learning in the Book of Rites lays out what a student should be examined on at each stage: after three years, whether he takes his studi...

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Maintain perfect integrity despite temptation

Liuxia Hui, caught outside the city gate on a freezing night, is said to have sheltered a woman who would otherwise have died, holding her (坐怀) inside...

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Perfect artistic understanding between friends

The Liezi records that Bo Ya played the qin and Zhong Ziqi listened. When Bo Ya's mind was on high (高) mountains (山), Zhong Ziqi said: how towering, l...

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Maintain perfect dignified composure

Neither (不) cringing (卑) nor (不) overbearing (亢). Both halves name a failure of bearing under a difference in rank, and the phrase describes holding t...

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Two brothers of equal merit; now often said ironically

This is from the Shishuo Xinyu, on the two sons of Chen Shi, of whom it was said that each was hard (难) to be the elder brother (兄) of and hard to be ...

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Extreme adoration or worship

顶礼 is the full Buddhist prostration, forehead touched to the ground at the feet of the one being honoured; 膜拜 is kneeling with the palms raised. Both ...

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Abandoning those who helped you

The History of Yuan records the abolition of the examinations. Xu Youren had argued against it and lost, and was then placed at the head of the offici...

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Bluffing with fake display

To make an empty (虚) display (张) of sound (声) and force (势). The military technique behind it is concrete — extra banners, drums beaten by too few men...

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Childhood sweethearts or friends

Li Bai's Changgan Ballad has a woman remembering her husband when both were small: he came riding a bamboo horse (竹马), and they circled the well playi...

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True nature eventually revealed

In Chinese fox lore the fox that takes human form is betrayed by the one part of the disguise it cannot manage: the tail (尾巴). The phrase is used of t...

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Indirect criticism of real target

To point at (指) the mulberry (桑) and curse (骂) the pagoda tree (槐). It is the twenty-sixth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, where the technique is discip...

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Professed love hiding actual fear

Lord Ye (叶公) loved (好) dragons (龙): they were on his belt-hooks, on his chisels, carved through the rooms of his house. The real dragon heard of it an...

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Impeccable moral character and integrity

Clear (清) as ice (冰), unblemished (洁) as jade (玉). The pairing is precise about two different qualities: ice is transparent, so nothing is concealed, ...

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To sum up everything discussed

Summing up (总) and thereby (而) putting it into words (言之). Unlike most of its neighbours this has no image in it at all — it is a piece of classical c...

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Decisively and firmly without hesitation

Yunju Daoying, in the Jingde Records, tells his assembly that a person who studies the Buddha-dharma must be like one cutting through a nail (斩钉) and ...

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Constantly shifting loyalty for personal gain

Qin in the morning (朝秦), Chu by evening (暮楚). The states named are the two great powers between which the small central states, and the travelling per...

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As everyone knows or is widely recognized

What the many (众) all (周) know (所知). The phrase is doing rhetorical work rather than reporting a fact, which is worth noticing before using it: placin...

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Too clever for one's own good

This is from the Book of Documents, which warns against making (作) oneself (自) clever (聪明) — that is, against substituting your own ingenuity for the ...

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Protect the surface, ruin the foundation

Duke Wen of Wei met a man carrying hay with his fur coat turned inside out (反裘), and asked why. To protect the fur (爱毛), the man said. The duke pointe...

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Superficial acquaintance without depth

This descends from the Book of Later Han, on Ying Feng, whose memory was such that a man glimpsed once at a half-open door was recognised by him years...

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Fundamentally kind and virtuous character

A heart-ground (心地) that is kind and good (善良). 心地 is the interesting half: it is Buddhist vocabulary, the mind figured as ground in which actions are...

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Treat others with genuine warmth and enthusiasm

To treat people (待人) with warmth (热情). This is an ordinary modern set phrase, not a classical idiom: no source, no story, and it is built the same way...

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Find genuine pleasure in helping others

To take pleasure (乐于) in helping people (助人). The phrase is modern and has no classical source, though the idea it names is old: the fuller form 助人为乐 ...

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Match between families of similar social status

Both halves are literal architectural features. 门当 are the drum-shaped stones set in pairs at the base of a gateway; 户对 are the short carved pegs proj...

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Disdainfully dismiss as beneath consideration

Not deigning (不屑) a single (一) glance (顾). 屑 carries the sense of considering something worth the trouble, so the refusal is specifically about worth ...

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Self-evident requiring no explanation

This descends from the Mencius, which says of the gentleman that his qualities spread to his four limbs, and his four limbs make them understood witho...

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Use any means regardless of ethics

Not (不) choosing (择) among methods (手段). The moral weight sits entirely on 择. The phrase does not say the means were bad; it says that no selection wa...

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Regard with fear and resentment

This one comes from the Strategies of the Warring States, in the passage where a man returns home successful and the family who once ignored him dare ...

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Make a long story short

Long talk (长话) told short (短说). This belongs to the vernacular storytelling register rather than to classical literature — it is the phrase a speaker ...

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Exploit others during their vulnerability

To ride (乘) on another person's (人之) danger (危). 乘 is the verb for mounting a horse or a chariot, so the image is of using someone's difficulty as the...

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Completely impartial without self-interest

Wholly public (大公) and without private interest (无私). The 公/私 distinction is the central axis of Chinese political ethics, and this phrase states the ...

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Take advantage by demanding increasingly more

This descends from the Warring States, where the strategist Fan Ju advises the king of Qin that under a policy of attacking near neighbours, an inch (...

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Habitually forgetful and disorganized

To drop (丢) three (三) and mislay (落) four (四) — the last character is read là here, not luò, which trips learners up. The numbers are deliberately non...

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Glancing around in all directions; unable to settle

Looking east (东张) and west (西望) — turning the head about instead of letting the gaze settle. It belongs to vernacular fiction, where it marks either d...

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Accumulated evil deeds ripe for punishment

This descends from the Book of Documents, where the crimes of the last Shang king are said to be strung together and full — the image is of evils (恶) ...

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Be irresistibly drawn toward self-destruction

Emperor Wu of Liang sent the official Dao Gai a teasing verse about the fact that his grandson was writing his memorials for him: the ink is ground to...

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Sincerely admit fault and accept consequences

The Records of the Grand Historian tells how the general Lian Po, resentful that the diplomat Lin Xiangru had been promoted above him, repeatedly soug...

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Everyone freely express their own opinions

Each (各) sets out (抒) their own (己) view (见). 抒 is to pour out or give voice to — the same character as in 抒情, to express feeling — so the phrase carr...

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Speak or act in deliberately indirect manner

Turning corners (拐弯) and skirting angles (抹角) — the phrase describes a route through a crowded old quarter, where nothing runs straight and progress i...

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Individual whose behavior harms entire group

In the Zhuangzi the Yellow Emperor, lost and asking a boy herding horses how to govern the empire, is told it is no different from tending horses: 去其害...

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Person who agrees with everyone to avoid conflict

Sima Hui of the late Han would not speak ill of anybody, and answered whatever he was told, good or terrible, with the word 'good' (好). A visitor came...

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Commanding imposing strategic position

Zhuge Liang is said to have described the terrain at present-day Nanjing as a coiling dragon (龙盘) and a crouching tiger (虎踞) — the ridge line curling ...

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Talk complete nonsense without any foundation

胡 originally names the northern and western peoples beyond the Chinese frontier, so 胡说 is talking the way a foreigner talks — unintelligibly, and by i...

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Maintain absolute silence about sensitive matter

This comes from the Guliang Commentary, which says of a matter too grave to record plainly that there is nothing (莫) so deep (如深) as the concealment (...

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Seek quick success and immediate benefit

Rushing (急) after achievement (功) and after benefit (利) that is near (近). 近 is the operative character: the objection is not to wanting results but to...

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To eagerly await someone or something

This descends from drama and verse of the Yuan and after, where autumn water (秋水) is a standing figure for clear bright eyes. To look until the autumn...

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Everlasting; eternal

This idiom derives from Chapter 7 of the Daoist classic 'Tao Te Ching' (道德经) by Laozi: 'Heaven and earth are long-lasting.' The phrase uses the long-l...

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To be true to one's word

The line is Zixia's, not Confucius's: in the Analects he sets out what he would call a learned man, ending with one who, in dealings with friends, spe...

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Living up to one's name or reputation

The name (名) matching (副) the reality (实). Cao Cao uses the equivalent phrase in a letter praising Wang Xiu, saying his repute and his substance corre...

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Careless; negligent

A coarse (粗) heart (心) and a broad (大) intention (意). Both halves say the same thing about grain: the attention is set too wide a mesh, so small thing...

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Self-righteous; opinionated

The label is Confucius's: 乡原，德之贼也, the man everyone in the village finds agreeable is the thief of virtue. Mencius takes the saying up when Wan Zhang ...

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Calm and composed; even-tempered

A level (平) heart (心) and settled (和) breath (气). The pairing is not decorative: 气 is the moving part of a person in Chinese medicine, and its state a...

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Everyone talking at once; lively discussion

Seven (七) mouths (嘴), eight (八) tongues (舌). Chinese pairs seven and eight to mean disordered multiplicity, the same device that gives 乱七八糟 and 七手八脚, ...

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Upright and open; above board

Bright (光) and clear (明), open and unhidden (磊落). 磊 is three stones stacked out in the open, and the word keeps that sense of everything being where i...

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Inseparable; always together

Form (形) and shadow (影) not (不) parting (离). The image is of company as unbreakable as the one thing that genuinely cannot leave you — and Chinese poe...

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Volunteer bravely; step forward willingly

To put oneself forward (自告) with vigour (奋) and courage (勇). The construction is the point: 自告 means doing the nominating yourself, which inside a hie...

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Knowingly commit a violation

Knowing perfectly well (明知) and committing the offence deliberately (故犯) all the same. Chinese legal thinking has always separated the wrong done in i...

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Talk endlessly; speak at great length

滔滔 is the sound and motion of a river in flood; with 不绝, never (不) breaking off (绝), the phrase gives speech that same volume and the same refusal to ...

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Unmoved; indifferent

No (无) movement (动) in (于) what is innermost (衷). 衷 is specifically the inside of a person, the part not on display, so the phrase reports an absence ...

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Unknown; working in obscurity

Silent (默默) and unheard of (无闻) — 闻 is to be heard of, so the second half concerns reputation rather than noise. Doubling 默 supplies the duration: thi...

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Treat everyone equally without discrimination

Han Yu wrote that the sage looks on all with a single (一) regard (视) and extends the same (同) benevolence (仁) to each, holding close those nearby and ...

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Argue endlessly without resolution

To argue (争论) without (不) ceasing (休). This is a modern four-character phrase built on a productive pattern rather than a classical allusion: 不休 attac...

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Willingly; without reluctance

The heart (心) finding it sweet (甘) and the feelings (情) willing (愿). All four characters push the same way, and the insistence is deliberate: the phra...

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Exaggerate; overstate

Liu Bei, dying, warned Zhuge Liang about Ma Su: his words (言) run past (过) the substance (其实), and he is not to be given large responsibilities — look...

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Turn a blind eye; deliberately ignore

This comes from the Great Learning, which says that where the mind is not present, one looks (视) and does not (不) see (见), listens and does not hear, ...

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Betray nothing of what happened

Behaving as if (若) there were no (无) such (其) matter (事). The phrase reports a performance and declines to say what is behind it, which is exactly its...

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Get worse; intensify negatively

The phrase is Xiao Tong's, from the preface to his anthology: things change (变) from their origin (本) and are heightened (加厉) as they go on. The comme...

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Devote oneself completely; work until exhausted

To bend the body (鞠躬) and spend oneself utterly (尽瘁). The line is from Zhuge Liang's second memorial before marching north: your servant will bow hims...

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Tacit understanding; unspoken agreement

Hearts (心) lit (照) for one another, with nothing (不) announced (宣). 照 is illumination that reveals rather than a signal that is sent, so the understan...

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As always; unchanged

Just as (一如) it has been all along (既往). 既往 is the completed past, what has already gone by, so the phrase measures the present against the whole of t...

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Reluctant to part; lingering attachment

依 is to lean on or cling to, and 依依 has two settled senses: the soft swaying of branches, as in the Book of Songs' willows at a parting, and the one a...

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Make a fuss about nothing

Big (大) alarm (惊) at a small (小) oddity (怪). The construction sets the size of the reaction against the size of the cause in a single four-character s...

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Talk irresponsibly; make things up

信 here is giving free rein rather than trusting — the same use as in 信手拈来 — so the mouth (口) is doing whatever it likes. The second half is a pun that...

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Meticulous; attentive to every detail

There is no (无) smallness (微) that is not (不) reached (至). The construction works by exhaustion rather than by praise: nothing is said about how good ...

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Sincerely repent and reform

To change (改) former (前) wrongs (非) thoroughly (痛). 痛 is the trap for learners: it is not 'painfully' here but 'completely, right through' — the same ...

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Unique; distinctive

Not (不) the same as (同) the crowd (众), with 与 marking the comparison. Chinese has long been ambivalent about the condition this names, and the ambival...

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Approachable; easy to get along with

The Records of the Grand Historian describes a ruler as 平易近民 — level and easy, and close to the people — his administration plain enough that people c...

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Extremely arrogant; look down on everyone

No (无) person (人) in (中) the eye (目). The construction is precise and unkind: other people are not being looked down on, they are not registering at a...

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Perfect mutual understanding; hearts in harmony

Heart (心) to heart (心), mutually (相) stamped (印). 印 is a seal pressed into clay or wax, and the metaphor is exact about what Chan Buddhism meant by it...

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Regret not meeting sooner; instant rapport

Emperor Wu of Han, meeting three men whose memorials had impressed him, is recorded as saying 何相见之晚也 — how late our meeting has been. The idiom compre...

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Sympathize with those sharing similar troubles

The Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue gives it to Wu Zixu, explaining why he had taken in another exile from Chu whose family had also been destr...

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Practice what one preaches

Words (言) and deeds (行) at one (一致). The Analects sets the standard it assumes — 君子欲讷于言而敏于行, the gentleman wishes to be halting in speech and quick in...

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Underestimate oneself; excessive self-deprecation

Zhuge Liang, in the memorial written before his first northern campaign, tells the young Liu Shan not to 妄自菲薄 — not to belittle (菲薄) himself (自) witho...

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Go through fire and water; brave any danger

To go into (赴) scalding water (汤) and tread (蹈) on fire (火). 汤 is boiling liquid rather than soup, as it is throughout classical Chinese, and the two ...

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Compassion; empathy for others

Mencius asks what anybody would feel on suddenly seeing a child about to fall into a well, and answers that the alarm and the pity would arrive before...

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Seek fame through calculated actions

To buy (沽) a name (名) and angle (钓) for reputation (誉). Both verbs are transactional and one of them is patient — 钓 is fishing with a line, which impl...

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Be domineering and arrogant

颐 is the lower jaw and cheek; to point with it (指) and to command (使) by 气 — the air or expression on the face, not the breath — is to give orders wit...

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Strut arrogantly; be conceited

The Zuo Zhuan records an officer watching the Chu commander Qu Xia set out and predicting his defeat: 举趾高，心不固矣 — he lifts his toes (趾) high (高), and h...

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Be conceited; have an inflated ego

Ma Yuan, sent to take the measure of the warlord Gongsun Shu, came back and reported that the man was a frog at the bottom of a well who nonetheless m...

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Be moody; have unpredictable emotions

Joy (喜) and anger (怒) with no (无) regularity (常). 常 is the constant, what can be relied on to stay the same, so the complaint is not about strong feel...

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Be furious beyond control

Anger (怒) that cannot (不可) be dammed (遏). 遏 is to block or stop a flow, so the metaphor gives rage volume and pressure, and the phrase reports that th...

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Be beaming with joy

Pleasure (喜) breaking into a smile (笑) and the face (颜) opening (开). 开 does the work — the metaphor treats a face at rest as closed and happiness as t...

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Be animated with excitement

Eyebrows (眉) flying (飞) and the colour of the face (色) dancing (舞). Both verbs are for things that leave the ground, and the phrase is specifically ab...

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Be all smiles; radiate happiness

Brows (眉) opening (开) and eyes (眼) smiling (笑). The observation is anatomically shrewd: the brow releasing and the eyes creasing are the two things a ...

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Look worried and unhappy

Worried (愁) brows (眉) and a bitter (苦) face (脸). 苦 is the taste, and using it of an expression is exact: the mouth of an unhappy person does what the ...

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Show strict discipline; not take anything

Not violating (无犯) so much as the autumn down (秋毫) — the fine new hair animals grow as the cold comes on, which classical Chinese uses as the standard...

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Live openly with clear conscience

Confucius set two types against each other: 君子坦荡荡，小人长戚戚 — the gentleman is open (坦) and broad (荡), the small man is forever fretting. The doubling in ...

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Be consistent inside and out

The outside (表) and the inside (里) as (如) one (一). 表 and 里 are the two faces of a garment, the shown and the lining, so the metaphor is not about hone...

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A promise once made must be kept

Once (既) a word (一言) is out (出). The line is almost never left standing alone: 一言既出，驷马难追, once said, a team of four horses cannot catch it. The image ...

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Be candid and fair

The Records of the Three Kingdoms assesses Zhuge Liang's administration in the words this phrase compresses: 开诚心，布公道 — he opened (开) his sincerity (诚)...

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Share complete trust and loyalty

Liver (肝) and gall (胆) lighting (照) one another (相). Chinese physiology seats courage in the gall and sincerity in the liver, so the phrase does not m...

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Speak from the heart; confide completely

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 rod...

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Share the same goals and values

The same (同) ambition (志) and paths that fit together (道合). 志 is what a person is aiming at and 道 is the way they mean to get there, so the phrase req...

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Be perfectly compatible; hit it off

Feelings (情) thrown toward each other (投) and intentions (意) meeting (合). 投 here is not 'to throw' but 契合, to fit or accord — the same sense as 合 in t...

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Be bosom friends

In the Zhuangzi, four men agree that whoever can take life and death as one thread is fit company; they look at each other, laugh, and find nothing in...

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Be sworn friends; absolute loyalty

Lian Po, a general, had been publicly slighting Lin Xiangru, a courtier promoted over him; Lin kept out of his way, explaining that Zhao survived beca...

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Help each other in adversity

The Zhuangzi: when the spring dries up the fish are left together on land, blowing damp air on one another and wetting each other (相濡) with foam (以沫) ...

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Treat each other with respect

The Zuo Zhuan records an official passing a field and seeing a man's wife bring him his meal there: the two treated one another 如宾, as guests, and on ...

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Married couple with great mutual respect

Meng Guang, married to the recluse Liang Hong, served his meals by lifting (举) the tray (案) level (齐) with her eyebrows (眉), not daring to look up at ...

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Grow old together; lifelong partnership

White (白) heads (头) reaching old age (老) side by side (偕). The Book of Songs supplies the wish — 及尔偕老, to grow old with you — and the white hair was a...

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Love at first sight

At a single (一) sight (见), the feeling (情) gathers (钟). 钟 is the interesting character. Simplified Chinese has merged two of them, and the one here is...

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Until the end of time; eternal love

Seas (海) drying (枯) and stones (石) crumbling (烂). Both are chosen for being the slowest imaginable changes rather than impossible ones, which is where...

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Be inseparable; hate to part

Hard (难) to divide (分) and hard (难) to let go (舍). The doubled 难 sets the two verbs in parallel and covers both halves of a parting, the separating an...

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Be deeply reluctant to leave

恋 is love that clings, the character in 恋人 and 留恋; doubled and set against 不舍, unwilling (不) to let go (舍), the phrase gives a reluctance rooted in at...

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Yearn day and night

The soul (魂) pulled along (牵) and dreams (梦) wound about (萦). 牵 is leading an animal on a rope and 萦 is thread winding round something, so both halves...

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Think about constantly; yearn for

Thinking (思) at dawn (朝) and thinking again (想) at dusk (暮). The two verbs are near-synonyms and the two times are the ends of the waking span, so the...

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Willingly travel far; make great efforts

Mencius opens with King Hui of Liang receiving him: 叟！不远千里而来，亦将有以利吾国乎 — venerable sir, you did not count a thousand (千) li (里) as far (远), so you must...

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Instant connection

Ji Zha of Wu, travelling as an envoy, met Zichan of Zheng and the Zuo Zhuan says they took to each other at once, as though they had been friends for ...

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Extreme loyalty

The phrase belongs to the world of Sui and Tang storytelling, and attaches above all to Qin Shubao, the sworn-brotherhood hero who takes the risk hims...

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Sibling-like bond

Feeling (情) the same as (同) between hands (手) and feet (足). It is the active twin of 手足之情: that phrase names the bond between actual brothers, while t...

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Ultimate sacrifice

Lou Jing, arguing that Liu Bang should site his capital in the defensible Guanzhong rather than the exhausted central plain, described what the wars o...

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Pure and sincere heart

赤子 is a newborn, called red for the colour it is born. Mencius wrote that the great person is the one who has not lost the heart (心) of the newborn (赤...

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Family happiness

Li Bai wrote it in the preface to a spring night's drinking with his cousins in a garden of peach and plum blossom: the joys (乐) of natural relation (...

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Inseparable family bond

Bone (骨) and flesh (肉) joined (相连). 骨肉 is the ordinary Chinese word for close blood kin, so the phrase is not really a metaphor: it states that parent...

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Brotherly affection

Hands (手) and feet (足) have named brothers in Chinese since antiquity, and the metaphor is exact in a way that most kinship metaphors are not: they ar...

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Noble and steadfast

High bearing (高风) and bright integrity (亮节). 节 is a bamboo joint before it is a moral term, and the metaphor is structural — the joints are what let t...

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Ostentatiously virtuous — now usually sarcastic

An upright person (正人), a gentleman (君子) — the compound is old and was straightforwardly complimentary, describing the scholar-official who behaved as...

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Respected elder

Virtue (德) high (高) and standing (望) weighty (重). 望 is the key character — not what a person is but how they are regarded, the reputation that has acc...

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Open-mindedness

A heart and chest (心胸) that are broad and open (开阔). 心胸 is the metaphor: the chest as the space feeling occupies, so a wide one holds more — disagreem...

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Attack someone who is already down

Han Yu, writing the tomb inscription for his friend Liu Zongyuan, turned aside to describe how people behave when a man's fortunes collapse: he falls ...

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Ingratitude and betrayal

Kindness (恩) taken (将) and repaid (报) with enmity (仇). It is the standard vernacular charge of ingratitude, and Ming fiction is full of it — Journey t...

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Ungrateful betrayal

Forget (忘) the kindness (恩) and turn your back on (负) what is owed (义). 义 is the load-bearing character: not loyalty as sentiment but obligation as a ...

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Selfish gain

Harm (损) others (人), benefit (利) yourself (己). Its interest is that Chinese moral vocabulary has a graded scale of which this is only one point. 损人利己 ...

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Superficial judgment

Confucius, according to the Records of the Grand Historian, admitted two misjudgements. He had expected much of Zai Yu, who spoke well, and was disapp...

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Hypocritical demeanor

岸 is a river bank, and 岸然 means towering, standing up sheer — so the phrase describes a bearing (道貌) that is imposing and morally elevated. It was onc...

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Vigor despite age

Ma Yuan, the Han general who kept taking commands into his sixties, was reported in the History of the Later Han to have said that a man of purpose sh...

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Honest business practices

A shop sign before it was an idiom, and still most at home painted on one: neither children (童) nor the old (叟) are cheated (无欺). The pairing names th...

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Intergenerational harmony

Respect (尊) the old (老), cherish (爱) the young (幼). The four characters are a modern compression, but the thought is Mencius at his most quoted — trea...

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Maximize individual potential

The Huainanzi argues that a ruler's skill lies in placing people where their particular capacity is worth something, and illustrates it with the philo...

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Maximize resource use

Let each thing (物) exhaust (尽) its (其) usefulness (用). It is the companion of 人尽其才 and comes from the same modern formulation of them, Sun Yat-sen's p...

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Trusted leadership

What the many (众) hope for (望) is where it comes to rest (所归). The Book of Jin uses it, and the metaphor in 归 is of water finding its way to the sea —...

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Universally praised

The Song Buddhist compilation Wudeng Huiyuan has the line: do not trouble to carve the stubborn stone, for the mouths of travellers on the road are th...

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Mutual reliance

Two states that cannot survive each other's loss lean (相依) on one another as lips (唇) and teeth (齿) do. The image comes from the Zuo Zhuan, where Gong...

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Reserved and thoughtful

Silent (沉默) and sparing of words (寡言). What makes it worth learning is that it is neutral to positive in Chinese where its English equivalents tend no...

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Justice over family

Shi Que's son Shi Hou had helped Zhou Xu murder the ruler of Wei and take his place. Shi Que, retired and consulted as an elder, arranged for both men...

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Public duty crowds out private interest

For the public good (公) and thereby forgetting (忘) the private (私). The Book of Han attaches the sentiment to Jia Yi, the young scholar-official whose...

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Perfect happiness

Flowers (花) at their best (好), the moon (月) full (圆). Both halves name a peak that is by definition brief — blossom and full moon each last a few days...

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Solidarity in hardship

The Book of Rites, describing the conduct of the scholar, includes standing together with others through trouble. Hence sharing (与共) hardship (患难). Th...

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Courageous moral action

Confucius put it as a negative — to see what is right (见义) and not do it is to lack courage (无勇) — and the idiom is his sentence turned the right way ...

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Patient, sincere advice

Two halves that pull against each other. 苦口 is the bitter mouth of the proverb 良药苦口利于病，忠言逆耳利于行 — good medicine tastes bitter but cures, honest words g...

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Confident and charming

落落 suggests standing apart without stiffness; 大方 is the opposite of small, cramped or fussy. Together they describe bearing rather than beauty — someo...

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Radiant happiness

A face (面) filled (满) with spring breeze (春风) — the look of someone whose good humour is visible before they speak. The comparison is to weather rathe...

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Non-verbal affection

Eyebrows (眉) and eyes (目) carrying (传) feeling (情). The phrase is fixed in Chinese literature by The Romance of the Western Chamber, where the lovers ...

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Integrity over compromise

In the History of Northern Qi, Yuan Jinghao refuses to save himself by taking the ruling house's surname: 大丈夫宁可玉碎，不能瓦全 — a real man would rather (宁) b...

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Reunion after separation

Xu Deyan, married to the princess of Lechang as the Chen dynasty collapsed, broke (破) a bronze mirror (镜) in two and gave her half, telling her to hav...

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Unparalleled beauty

Li Yannian sang to Emperor Wu of a beauty in the north, standing alone and without equal: one glance and she topples (倾) a city (城), a second glance a...

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Sincere invitation

Zhuge Liang's own memorial to the throne is the source, and it is worth reading for the tone: the late emperor, he wrote, did not think me contemptibl...

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Influence of leadership

Duke Huan of Qi liked purple, so the court wore purple, so the whole state wanted purple and the price of the dye went to five times that of plain clo...

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Selflessness

To set aside (舍) oneself (己) for (为) others (人). The sentiment is thoroughly Confucian, and the construction appears in the classics in related forms....

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Selfish pursuit of gain

The Zuo Zhuan gives the phrase as 唯利是视, only profit is looked to, and it is Qin's own oath quoted back at it: Chu reported to Jin that Qin had sworn t...

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Balanced character

Confucius set two things against each other in the Analects: 质, raw substance, and 文, cultivation and polish. Substance overrunning polish gives you a...

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Clear conscience

To ask (问) the heart (心) and find nothing to be ashamed of (无愧). The construction places the tribunal inside the person, which is the whole point: the...

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Extreme admiration

The five (五) parts of the body (体) thrown (投) to the ground (地): both knees, both elbows and the forehead, which is the full Buddhist prostration. Xua...

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Frank and outspoken

A straight (直) heart (心) and a quick (快) mouth (口). The phrase is genuinely double-edged and Chinese uses both edges freely. As praise it describes so...

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Moral purity

In Buddhist analysis the 六尘, the six dusts, are the objects of the senses — what settles on a mind and clouds it. So a single (一) speck of dust (尘) no...

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Continuity of tradition

One (一) vein (脉) inherited (承) down the line (相). 脉 is a blood vessel and also the seam of ore in rock or the ridge line of a mountain range — in ever...

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Extremely stingy

Mencius describes the philosopher Yang Zhu's position as pure egoism: he would not pluck (拔) a single (一) hair (毛) from his body even if it would bene...

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Lead by example

To take (以) one's own person (身) and make (作) it the standard (则). 则 is a rule or a model in the strict sense — the thing others are measured against ...

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Heartfelt advice

Words (语) that are weighty (重) and a heart (心) that reaches far (长). The two halves describe different things: the speech is serious, and the concern ...

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Moral and capable

Virtue (德) and ability (才), both (兼) possessed (备). The phrase matters in Chinese less as literature than as policy: it is the standard formula for pe...

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Mutual deceit

The Zuo Zhuan records the terms agreed when Chu's siege of Song was lifted: 我无尔诈，尔无我虞 — I will not deceive you, you will not deceive me. The idiom is ...

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Extreme sorrow

A New Account of Tales of the World records an army passing through the gorges, where a soldier took a gibbon's infant aboard. The mother followed alo...

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Empathy and understanding

To take (将) one's own heart (心) and measure (比) another's (心). Zhu Xi uses it, and the mechanism is worth noticing: the standard proposed is not imagi...

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Imposing outside, timid within

Yang Xiong's 《法言·吾子》 supplies the whole image in one line: a sheep (羊) wearing a tiger's (虎) hide (皮) is delighted when it sees grass and trembles whe...

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Advertise one thing and deliver another

The oldest version is in the 《晏子春秋》, where the minister Yanzi rebukes a ruler with the image of an ox head hung at the gate while horse meat is sold i...

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Repay small kindness lavishly

Han Xin, starving and unemployed, was fed for weeks by an old washerwoman at the riverside. When he offered to repay her some day she was unimpressed,...

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