This idiom was suggested by Jan on the Chinese Chengyu Facebook page. Thanks!

塞翁失马 – sài wēng shī mǎ
塞翁失馬 (traditional characters)

Chinese Character Break Down

塞 – here: something like a border (read as sài)
翁 – old man
失 – to lose
马 – horse

塞翁失马: The old man from the border loses a horse.

Idiom Meaning

Indicating, that something seemingly bad may turn out to have been a good thing in the end. A blessing in disguise. The story below explains it pretty well. It can also have the opposite meaning (a good thing becoming a bad thing), the former is used more often though.

Chengyu Examples

This one is almost always used in the following set phrase:

塞翁失马，焉知非福。
sàiwēngshīmǎ, yānzhīfēifú.
Well, how do you know it’s not a good thing after all.

说不定塞翁失马，焉知非福呢。
shuōbúdìng sàiwēngshīmǎ, yānzhīfēifú.
Maybe it’ll turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

焉 – how
知 – know
非 – not to be
福 – good fortune

There are two common alternatives. The meaning remains the same, though.

塞翁失马，焉知祸福。
sàiwēngshīmǎ, yānzhīhuòfú.

塞翁失马，安知非福。
sàiwēngshīmǎ, ānzhīfēifú.

Chengyu Story and Background

There once was an old man who lived with his only son at the border of the state. They liked horses and often let them graze freely. One time a servant reported to the old man, “A horse is missing! It went into the neighboring state.”

His friends felt sorry for him, but the old man was not bothered at all by the loss. In fact, he said: “Who knows! The loss may bring us good fortune!”

A few months later, a weird thing happened. Not only did the missing horse return home safely, it also brought back with it a fine horse from the neighboring state.

When his friends heard the news, they congratulated the old man on his good luck. But the old man said, “Who knows! This may bring us ill fortune!”

One day, when the old man’s son was riding the fine horse, he fell off it, broke his leg very badly and became crippled. Many friends came to comfort the old man, but the old man was not disturbed by the accident in the least. “Who knows! This may bring us good fortune after all!” he said.

A year later, the neighboring state sent troops across the border. All young and strong men were drafted to join the fight, and most of them got killed. The old man’s son however was not drafted because he was crippled -  and so his life was spared.

危如累卵 – wēi rú lěi luǎn

Chinese Character Break Down

危 – dangerous
如 – like
累 – to pile up (careful, 累 is read as “lěi” here)
卵 – egg

危如累卵: Precarious like a pile of eggs.

Idiom Meaning

Very unstable, precarious; could collapse at any moment.

Chengyu Examples

明星婚姻为什么总是危如累卵啊？
míng xīng hūnyīn wèishénme zǒngshì wēirúlěiluǎn a?
Why are celebrities’ marriages always so unstable?

经济情况完全可用“危如累卵”来形容。
jīngjì qíngkuàng wánquán kěyòng wēirúlěiluǎn lái xíngróng.
The economic situation can absolutely be described to be “as shaky as a pile of eggs”.

Chengyu Story and Background

In the Spring and Autumn Period, duke Ling of Jin had the crazy idea to build a nine-story-watchtower. People started telling him how dangerous and silly his idea was, which only infuriated him. He ordered the next person to criticize the tower to be killed.

One of his ministers, Xun Xi, had a clever plan. When he went to visit the duke, an archer was holding a bow and arrow; if anything was said about the building he would be shot. Instead, cheerfully, Xun Xi said that he wanted to show off a fun skill he had, and the king agreed since he loved games. Xun Xi ordered to get twelve chessmen and nine eggs.

Xun Xi placed the chessmen on the floor at first, and then went on to putting eggs on top. When he was putting the last one on the pile, the king could not help but cringe, “Careful, it is too dangerous!” Xun Xi countered, “No, there are many things more dangerous than this.” Then he went on to tell the king why building a watchtower was a terrible idea. “In order to build a nine-level platfrom, our national treasury has benn emptied and there is no one left to cultivate the land or weave cloth. Neighboring countries are planning to attack us, and we have no way to protect ourselves.”

Hearing this, the king finally understood what Xun Xi was getting at. Like that precarious pile of eggs, he now was aware of the situation.

鹏程万里 – pēng chéng wàn lǐ
鵬程萬里 (traditional characters)

Chinese Character Break Down

鹏 – something like a roc
程 – journey
万 – ten thousand
里 – Li (a Chinese mile, about 500m / 1640 feet)

鹏程万里: A roc’s journey of ten thousand miles.

Idiom Meaning

This Chengyu describes a bright future, or wishing someone success in his or her endeavour.

Chengyu Examples

在新的一年里，每一个人都希望自己能鹏程万里。
zài xīnde yīnián lǐ, měiyígèrén dōu xīwàng zìjǐ néng péngchéngwànlǐ.
Everyone hopes to be successful in the new year.

祝你事业鹏程万里。
zhù nǐ shìyè péngchéngwànlǐ.
I wish you success in your endeavours!

Chengyu Story and Background

The Chinese classic of Zhuangzi (庄子) tells the following story:

Once upon a time, a gigantic fish named Kun lived in the Northern Sea. No one knew how large it actually was. This fish could turn into a gigantic bird called Peng (usually translated as roc), who was thousands of kilometers in length. When the bird spread its wings, it looked like huge clouds in the sky. It could, in one stretch, fly from the Northern Sea to the Southern Sea on the other side of the globe and soaring up to 90000 li in the heaven.

The bird can easily fly over a long distance without stop. Now people use this Chengyu idiom to wish others a long career or a bright future.

一毛不拔 – yī máo bù bá

Chinese Character Break Down

一 – one
毛 – hair, down
不 – not
拔 – pull out

一毛不拔: To not even be willing to pull out a hair.

Idiom Meaning

This Chengyu describes being stingy or niggard; not spending money for others.

Chengyu Examples

他很吝啬，像铁公鸡，一毛不拔！
tā hěn lìnsè, xiàng tiěgōngjì, yīmáobùbá!
He is so stingy, like an iron rooster*, won’t even pull out a hair for ya.
* Read more about the iron rooster below!

对好朋友要相当大方，而不是一毛不拔。
duì hǎo péngyou yào xiāngdāng dàfāng, érbúshì yīmáobùbá.
You have to be generous and not a scrooge towards your friends!

Chengyu Story and Background

Not the most exciting story this time, but further below you find an interesting pragmatic note.

“In the Warring States period, there were all sorts of philosophies out there. The thinker Mozi advocated for the love of mankind towards each other and for helping. Another thinker called Yang Zhu said, all actions came from self-interest.

One day, Mozi’s student Qin Hua Li came up to Yang Zhu and asked: “If you could help the whole world (天下) by only pulling out one of your hairs, would you be willing to do it?”

Yang Zhu answered: “There is no such problem that could be solved by pulling out a hair.”

“But if it could?”, insisted Qin.

However, Yang Zhu still didn’t show himself ready to do so.”

What’s interesting: In Chinese language, 一毛不拔 often comes together with the iron rooster metaphor (铁公鸡). That’s because if a rooster’s made of iron, there is no way to pull out one of his downs.

Check out phrase 1 above for an example.

In the story above, the word 汗毛 (usually: down) is also being used for what I translated as “hair”.

So, we know why it’s the iron rooster but not where it comes from. If you know more about the origin of 铁公鸡, post it in the comments, I’d love to know where that comes from and update this post.

杞人忧天 – qǐ rén yōu tiān
杞人憂天 (Traditional characters)

Chinese Character Break Down

杞 – The State of Qi, 16th century BC–445 BC (careful, it’s not the State of 齐 – also Qi)
人 – person
忧 – fear, worry
天 – sky

杞人忧天: The man from Qi fears the sky.

Idiom Meaning

This Chengyu is used if someone has groundless fears or is worrying unnecessarily.

Chengyu Examples

天气这么好，你带伞出门真是杞人忧天了。
tiānqì zhème hǎo, nǐ dài sǎn chūmén zhēnshì qǐrényōutiān.
The weather is great, there’s absolutely no reason for you to take an umbrella.

2012世界毁灭的事件也许只是杞人忧天吧。
shìjièhuǐmiè de shìjiàn yěxǔ zhǐshì qǐrényōutiān ba.
There’s no need at all to worry about the 2012 apocalypse.

Chengyu Story and Background

This Chengyu comes from a 5th century BC daoist story:

杞國有人，憂天地崩墜，身亡所寄，廢寢食者。

In the State of Qi there was a man, who feared that the sky would fall down, and there would be no space for his body. He could neither sleep nor eat.

Not too complicated, is it?

There are a few slightly different versions of the story. In a more extended one, his friend walks up to him and tells him to calm down. The man answers: “But if the sky won’t fall down, the stars or the moon or the sun may!” His friend walked away in frustration.

And again, enjoy this video!

偷工减料 – tōu gōng jiǎn liào

Chinese Character Break Down

偷 – save
工 – work
减 – reduce
料 – material

偷工减料: Saving work, reducing material.

Idiom Meaning

The meaning is pretty obvious once you break it down into characters. This Chengyu referrs to botching things up, doing a really poor job, jerry-building. You may encounter this Chengyu when, for example, the news talk about poorly done construction work.

Chengyu Examples

他们因盖房子偷工减料而被炒了鱿鱼。
tāmen yīn gǎi fángzi tōugōngjiǎnliào ér bèi chǎo le yóuyú.
They got fired for doing a poor job building the house.

不管生产什么产品，都不能偷工减料。
bùguǎn shēngchǎn shénme chǎnpǐn, dōu bùnéng tōugōngjiǎnliào.
No matter what product you’re producing, you can’t botch it up.

Easy use: Action + 偷工减料, Action + 不能 + 偷工减料, …

Chengyu Story and Background

I find it very hard to get information on this idiom. It’s from the Qing Dynasty novel Er Nü Ying Xiong Chuan (儿女英雄传) by Wen Kang. Nevertheless I think it is very useful for everyday conversation. If you have more info about it’s origin, feel free to comment!

比肩继踵 – bǐ jiān jì zhǒng

Scroll down to see the video.

Chinese Character Break Down

比 – compared
肩 – shoulders
继 – follow, continue
踵 – pace

比肩继踵: Shoulder to shoulder, following pace.

Idiom Meaning

Very straightforward this time: it’s really crowded. It’s a neutral expression, so depending on the context you can describe a fun party or a stuffy train with this Chengyu.

Chengyu Examples

公交车上人们比肩继踵，挤死我啦。
gōngjiāochēshàng rénmen bǐjiānjìzhòng, jǐsǐwǒ la.
The people on the bus stood shoulder to shoulder, it was super-poky.

节日里，公园里的人比肩继踵，玩得十分开心。
jiérìlǐ, gōngyuánlǐde rén bǐjiānjìzhòng, wánde shífēn kāixīn.
On holidays, the parks are full of people having tons of fun.

Chengyu Story and Background

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the country of Qi (齐国) sent a minister to the Kingdom of Chu (楚国). This minister was Master Yan (晏子) – a short, but wise man. The Chu were kinda busy fighting though and acted really impolite, didn’t even open the doors at first.

When they eventually let in Master Yan, the Chu king started laughing at his short stature. “You are such a dwarf! Don’t you have people in Qi country?” Master Yan answered: “Actually we have lots of people. We are walking shoulder by shoulder, following each others pace. How can you say there’s no people in Qi? But it’s our tradition to send the capable and notable diplomats to the wise and respectable kings. People like me are being sent to countries like yours.”

And so it was the Chu king who was getting ridiculed after all, bringing the shame upon himself.

What I found a little odd about this story, is that the idiom itself doesn’t reflect the morale in this particular story. If you know why this is, feel free to leave a comment! And, of course, don’t forget to enjoy another awesome video. Give it a little time, it’s hosted on Youku.

This story is being mentioned by Master Yan himself in Yanzi Chun Qiu. If you are interested, read the passage here (it’s in ancient Chinese).

刻舟求剑 – kè zhōu qiú jiàn

Chinese Character Break Down

刻 – mark, carve
舟 – boat
求 – search
剑 – sword

刻舟求剑: Mark the boat to look for the sword.

Idiom Meaning

This Chengyu symbolizes doing something without considering a change of circumstances. But sometimes you see it being used for simply stubborn or foolishly narrow-minded behaviour.

Chengyu Examples

你连电脑都不懂还一直想进网络公司，这不是刻舟求剑吗？
nǐ lián diànnǎo dōu bù dǒng hái yīzhí xiǎng jìn wǎngluògōngsī, zhè búshì kèzhōuqiújiàn ma?
You don’t even get computers, yet you’re always talking about entering an internet company – isn’t that a foolish undertaking?

这样刻舟求剑的做法不对，他应该继续前进。
zhèyàng kèzhōuqiújiànde zuòfǎ búduì, tā yīnggāi jìxù qiánjìn.
This kind of stubbornly stupid behaviour isn’t right, he should move on.

Chengyu Story and Background

This story is frank but wise ;)

In the State of Chu, there was a man who loved his sword very much. One day, he accidentaly dropped it into the water while crossing a river. He quickly took out his knife and carverd a mark in his boat take note of the spot and come back later.

When he was by the shore, he jumped into the water where the mark was to find his sword, albeit without success.

So, the boat has moved but the sword hasn’t – and if someone is 刻舟求剑, he is usually doing something without considering a change of circumstances.

And here’s another wonderful video!