Chengyu: 10 Chinese idioms and the stories behind them

The word chengyu (成语, chéngyǔ) means roughly "set phrase". It refers to fixed expressions of Chinese, most of them four characters long, though not all. How many there are depends on the definition: about 5,000 by the strictest count, while some dictionaries list more than 20,000. The word 成语 itself is on the HSK 5 list.

A chengyu is a small fossil of Literary Chinese: it keeps that language's vocabulary and grammar, which makes it far more compact than everyday speech or writing. Chengyu were used widely in Literary Chinese and are still common today, in writing and in speech.

Many contain an allusion to an ancient text, called a 典故 (diǎngù). That is why schoolchildren across the Chinese-speaking world study chengyu alongside the classical texts: to learn the context they were born from. Often the four characters sum up the moral of the story rather than the story itself. Take 破釜沉舟, "break the pots and sink the boats", which refers to an episode of the Records of the Grand Historian (史记). The general Xiang Yu (项羽) took his whole army across a river to relieve Julu (巨鹿), then had the boats sunk and the cooking pots broken, keeping only three days of rations. With no way back, his soldiers won the battle. The idiom means "to make an all-out effort to succeed by deliberately removing any fallback".

Not every chengyu has a story behind it. This page tells the stories of ten that do, from their original texts.

Most come from ancient literature: the classics written before the Qin empire, poetry from every period, and even the vernacular novels and short stories of late imperial times. Among the oldest texts, the imagery of the Classic of Poetry (诗经) and the detailed narratives of the Zuo Zhuan (左传) and the Records of the Grand Historian (史记) supplied a great many. The Four Great Classical Novels gave many more: there the idiom condenses and retells an episode of the novel.

Their sources are often sorted into a few broad families:

• myths, such as 女娲补天 ("Nüwa mends the sky");

• fables (寓言, yùyán, a word on the HSK 7-9 list), such as 刻舟求剑 or 狐假虎威;

• historical stories, such as 破釜沉舟 or 完璧归赵;

• literary works, ancient or modern, and even a few stories from abroad.

The table lists, by date, the texts behind the idioms told on this page, with three more examples. The dates are those of the books as they have come down to us: many were compiled from older material, and the date of the Liezi is disputed.

The story. A farmer in the state of Song (宋) had a tree stump in the middle of his field. One day a running hare crashed into the stump, broke its neck and died. So the farmer put down his plough and stayed by the stump, hoping to catch another hare. No other hare ever came, and he became the laughingstock of all Song.

The source. The story is in the "Wudu" chapter (五蠹, "The Five Vermin") of the Han Feizi (韩非子), a book attributed to the Legalist thinker Han Fei (韩非, c. 280 – 233 BCE); most of its chapters date from the mid-3rd century BCE, in the Warring States period. Han Fei does not tell the story for its own sake: he aims it at people who want to govern the people of their own day with the policies of the ancient kings. They are all, he says, like the man guarding the stump.

What it means today. The idiom first meant clinging to an old method instead of adapting. It is also used for someone who hopes to get something for nothing, or who waits for an opportunity to come to them. It is on the HSK 7-9 list.

The story. A man of the state of Chu (楚) was selling shields and spears. He praised his shields: "They are so strong that nothing can pierce them." Then he praised his spears: "They are so sharp that there is nothing they cannot pierce." Someone asked him: "What if you struck your shields with your spears?" The man had no answer. A shield that nothing can pierce and a spear that pierces everything cannot exist together.

The source. The story is in "Nanyi" (难一), chapter 36 of the Han Feizi (韩非子). Han Fei starts from an anecdote: while Yao (尧) was on the throne, Shun (舜) went to farm among farmers who encroached on each other's fields, to fish among fishermen who quarrelled and to make pots among potters whose pots were shoddy, and each time, within a year, his example set things right. Confucius saw this as proof of Shun's virtue. But if Yao, who was ruling at the time, was a perfect sage, the text objects, there would have been nothing to set right: you cannot praise both Yao and Shun. That is "the argument of the spear and the shield" (矛楯之说). The text writes 楯, another name for the shield (盾). The "Nanshi" chapter (难势) uses the same story in another debate.

What it means today. The story gave Chinese the word 矛盾 (máodùn), "spear-shield", which means "contradiction" and is on the HSK 5 list. 自相矛盾 means "to contradict oneself": to hold two things that cannot both be true. The idiom is on the HSK 7-9 list.

The story. In the state of Chu (楚), a man who had held a sacrifice gave his retainers a cup of wine. They said to each other: "It's not enough for several of us, and more than enough for one. Let's each draw a snake on the ground: whoever finishes first drinks the wine." One of them finished first. He took the wine and, holding the cup in his left hand, kept drawing with his right: "I can even give it feet!" Before he was done, another man finished his snake, snatched the cup and said: "A snake has no feet in the first place! How can you give it feet?" (蛇固无足，子安能为之足). And he drank the wine. The man who drew the feet lost his drink.

The source. The fable is in the Strategies of the Warring States (战国策, Zhanguo Ce), in the section "Qi ce II" (齐策二). This collection of anecdotes about the advisers and orators of the Warring States, by unknown authors, was put into shape in the 1st century BCE by the scholar Liu Xiang (刘向). Zhao Yang (昭阳), a general of Chu, has just taken eight cities from the state of Wei (魏) and turns his troops against Qi (齐). Chen Zhen (陈轸), sent by the king of Qi, points out that one more victory would add nothing to his titles, then tells him the fable: a man who wins every battle but does not know when to stop ends up losing his life, and his rank goes back to the state. That is drawing feet on the snake. Zhao Yang agrees, breaks camp and leaves.

What it means today. Doing something unnecessary that spoils the result instead of improving it. The idiom is on the HSK 7-9 list.

The story. A tiger was hunting all kinds of animals to eat, and caught a fox. "You wouldn't dare eat me," said the fox. "The Lord of Heaven (天帝) has made me the head of all the animals: eating me would go against his orders. If you don't believe me, I'll walk ahead and you follow me: you'll see whether a single animal dares not run away when it sees me." The tiger believed him and followed. All the animals fled at the sight of them. The tiger did not understand that they feared him: he thought they were afraid of the fox.

The source. The fable is in the Zhanguo Ce (战国策), section "Chu ce I" (楚策一). King Xuan of Chu (楚宣王) asks his ministers whether it is true that the northern states are afraid of his minister Zhao Xixu (昭奚恤). No one answers except Jiang Yi (江一), who tells the fable and concludes: the king holds a territory of five thousand li on each side and a million armed soldiers, and he has put them under Zhao Xixu's command. If the north fears Zhao Xixu, it is really the king's army it fears, just as the animals feared the tiger.

What it means today. The four characters 狐假虎威 do not appear in the Zhanguo Ce: the idiom was drawn from the fable later, and it is found for example in the novel Journey to the West (西游记). It describes someone who uses a more powerful person's authority to intimidate others.

The story. Zhuang Xin (庄辛), a descendant of an earlier king of Chu (楚), warns King Qingxiang (顷襄王), called King Xiang (襄王) in the text: the king surrounds himself with four favourites who think only of luxury and pleasure and neglect the affairs of state; the capital, Ying (郢), is in danger. The king calls him a doddering old man. So Zhuang Xin leaves for the state of Zhao (赵). Five months later the state of Qin (秦) seizes Ying and several other territories, and the king has to take refuge at Chengyang (城阳). He calls Zhuang Xin back and asks him what to do. Zhuang Xin answers with a saying: "Turning to the dog once you see the hare is not too late; mending the pen once a sheep is lost is not too late either." In the past, he adds, the kings Tang (汤) and Wu (武) prospered from a hundred li of land, and Chu, even diminished, still has thousands. Shaken, the king makes him Lord of Yangling (阳陵君), and with his help takes the lands north of the Huai river (淮北).

The source. Zhanguo Ce (战国策), section "Chu ce IV" (楚策四), in the passage "Zhuang Xin speaks to King Xiang of Chu" (庄辛谓楚襄王). It is one of the passages of the collection chosen for the anthology Guwen guanzhi (古文观止).

What it means today. The idiom keeps the meaning of the saying: after a first loss, it is not too late to correct the mistake and avoid further losses. It is on the HSK 7-9 list.

The story. A man of Chu (楚) was crossing a river by boat when his sword fell into the water. At once he cut a notch in the side of the boat: "This is where my sword fell from." When the boat stopped, he dived in at the notch to look for it. But the boat had moved on, and the sword had not. "Isn't looking for a sword like this absurd?" the text comments.

The source. The fable is in the "Chajin" chapter (察今, "Examining the present") of the Lüshi Chunqiu (吕氏春秋, Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals), a vast compilation completed around 239 BCE by the scholars gathered by Lü Buwei (吕不韦), chancellor of the state of Qin. The chapter argues that one cannot simply copy the laws of the former kings: one must understand what led them to make those laws. Governing with old laws is doing what the man in the boat did: "The times have changed but the law has not; is it not hard to govern this way?" The text says 契, "to notch"; the idiom took 刻, "to carve".

What it means today. The idiom describes sticking rigidly to a method without taking changes into account. It is on the HSK 7-9 list.

The story. When the Fan clan (范氏) was destroyed, a commoner found a bell (钟) in their house and wanted to carry it off on his back. It was too big, so he set about breaking it with a mallet. The bell rang out. Afraid that others would hear it and come to take it from him, he quickly covered his ears. "Not wanting others to hear is understandable; not wanting to hear yourself is absurd," the text comments.

The source. The story is in the "Zizhi" chapter (自知, "Knowing oneself") of the Lüshi Chunqiu (吕氏春秋, c. 239 BCE). The Fan were one of the six great ministerial families of the state of Jin (晋) in the Spring and Autumn period. The chapter is addressed to rulers: to know whether something is straight you need a plumb line, and to know himself a ruler needs outspoken advisers. A ruler who refuses to hear about his faults is like the bell thief.

What it means today. In the text the stolen object is a large bell, 钟 (zhōng), and at first the idiom spoke of that bell: people still wrote 掩耳盗钟 under the Tang. From the Song onward the large bell gave way to a small one, 铃 (líng). The idiom describes deceiving yourself as much as others.

The story. A frog lived in an abandoned well. It said to a turtle from the Eastern Sea: "How happy I am! I hop along the rim, I rest in the gaps in the wall, I swim, I splash in the mud, and no crab or tadpole can match me. To have a whole well of water to myself is the greatest joy. Why don't you come and see?" The turtle tried to get in, but its right knee got stuck before its left foot was even inside. It backed out and described the sea: a thousand li cannot convey its breadth, nor a thousand ren (仞) its depth; nine years of floods out of ten, in the time of Yu the Great (大禹), did not make it rise, nor did seven years of drought out of eight, in the time of King Tang of Shang (商汤), make it fall. The frog was stunned and at a loss.

The source. "Qiushui" (秋水, "Autumn Floods"), chapter 17 of the Zhuangzi (庄子), one of the two founding texts of Daoism. It is one of the "outer chapters", attributed to Zhuangzi's followers, and probably dates from the Qin or Han period. In it Prince Mou of Wei (魏牟) tells the fable to Gongsun Long (公孙龙), a debater who thought he knew everything, to show him that he cannot understand Zhuangzi.

What it means today. The text speaks of a "well frog" (井蛙); the phrase 井底之蛙 came later. According to the Book of the Later Han (后汉书), Ma Yuan (马援), back from a visit to Gongsun Shu (公孙述), who had proclaimed himself emperor, said of him: "Ziyang is just a frog at the bottom of a well, yet he thinks himself great." The idiom describes someone with a narrow outlook, sure of himself because he knows nothing else.

The story. A family lived near the frontier. One day its horse ran off for no reason into the land of the Hu (胡), the peoples on the other side. Everyone came to console them, but the father said: "Who knows if this isn't good luck?" A few months later the horse came back, bringing fine Hu horses with it. Everyone came to congratulate the family, but the father said: "Who knows if this isn't bad luck?" The household was now rich in good horses; the son, who loved to ride, fell and broke his thigh. More condolences, and the father said it again: "Who knows if this isn't good luck?" A year later the Hu invaded the region. The able-bodied men took up their bows to fight, and nine out of ten people of the frontier died. Because he was lame, the son was spared the fighting, and father and son both survived.

The source. "Renjian" (人间训, "In the World of Man"), chapter 18 of the Huainanzi (淮南子). This collection of essays was written at the court of Liu An (刘安), Prince of Huainan, who presented it to Emperor Wu of Han in 139 BCE. The chapter piles up examples of benefits that turn into disasters, and the reverse. The fable ends: "Good fortune turns into bad, and bad into good; these reversals have no end."

What it means today. The "old man at the frontier" (塞翁) is this father. The idiom is often quoted with its sequel, 塞翁失马，焉知非福: "the old man at the frontier loses his horse; who knows if it isn't good luck?" It says that a misfortune may hide a blessing. The story is known throughout East Asia, and Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese have made their own proverbs from it.

The story. Facing the Taihang (太行) and Wangwu (王屋) mountains, which covered seven hundred li on each side, lived an old man of nearly ninety, Yugong (愚公), "the Foolish Old Man". Tired of making a detour every time he went out, he gathered his family: "What if we levelled these mountains to open a road to the south?" His wife objected: "You couldn't even dent a hill. And where would you put the earth and stones?" "In the Bohai sea (渤海)," they answered. With his sons and grandsons he began breaking up rock and carrying the earth in baskets to the sea; a single round trip took months. Zhisou (智叟), "the Wise Old Man", laughed at him. Yugong replied: "When I die, my sons will remain; my sons will have grandsons, and so on without end. But the mountain grows no bigger: why couldn't it be levelled?" The god who holds snakes (操蛇之神) took fright and warned the Lord on High, who, moved by Yugong's sincerity, had the two sons of Kua'e (夸蛾氏) carry the two mountains away.

The source. "Tangwen" (汤问), book 5 of the Liezi (列子), a Daoist text attributed to Lie Yukou (列御寇), who is thought to have lived around the 5th century BCE. Its date is disputed: the book is mentioned as early as the Han, but a number of scholars in China and in the West believe the current text was compiled around the 4th century CE.

What it means today. The idiom, on the HSK 7-9 list, stands for unshakeable perseverance in the face of a task that looks impossible. In 1945 Mao Zedong (毛泽东) retold the story to close the Seventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party: the two mountains became imperialism and feudalism.