Chinese Idioms

shou zhu dai tu yan er dao ling zi xiang mao dun
hua long dian jing hu jia hu wei jiu niu yi mao
 

掩耳盗铃 yǎn ěr dào líng

Posted in Chinese Idioms on 08/30/2009 11:11 pm by ChenFeng

掩 yǎn: cover, mask; 耳 ěr: ear; 盗 dào: steal; 铃 líng: bell.
Short Description: ‘yǎn ěr dào líng’ is a story that happened in the late Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese history (about two thousand and three hundred years ago). A man from country Jìn wanted to steal a bell of somebody else. He was well aware of that the bell would ring if he touched it. Then he would be caught if he did so. ‘how should I steal the bell?’, he thought. Shortly he came up with a good idea …


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守株待兔 shǒu zhū dài tù

Posted in Chinese Idioms on 08/20/2009 03:55 pm by ChenFeng

守 shǒu: keep watch; 株 zhū: a tree; 待 dài: wait for; 兔 tù: a rabbit.
Short Description: ‘shǒu zhū dài tù’ is a story that happened in ancient Song dynasty (about one thousand year ago). A farmer by chance saw a rabbit run against a tree, dead. He took the rabbit and was very happy for his good luck getting a free lunch. So he decided to stay by the tree all day long ever after to wait for another rabbit dashing itself against the tree…


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