“Chengyus” are a type of traditional Chinese idioms which consists of four characters. They were commonly used in ancient Chinese literature and are still widely used in spoken Chinese. Though only four characters, Chengyus often have a deep meaning behind them. If you’re ever looking to get a complex point across quickly, then there’s no better way than four characters Chengyu in Chinese!
①This chengyu comes from a fable. Once there was a man in the Chu state who dropped his sword into the river. He immediately cut a mark on the side of his boat to indicate the place where his sword fell. When the boat reached to the opposite side of the river, he dived into the water below the mark to look for his sword. However, he couldn’t find the sword as the boat had been moving but the sword hadn’t.
②This originates from an ancient story. During the Spring and Autumn Period, duke Huan of the Qi state led his troops to attack the Guzhu kingdom. They left in spring and when they came back it was already winter. Therefore, they lost on their way back. Then someone in the troops suggested to place an old horse in front of the troops to guide the way. Finally they managed to reach home by following the old horse.
③This chengyu is also from a fable from Warring States Period by Han Fei. Once there was a peasant in the Song state. There was a tree stump (树桩) in his field. One day a rabbit dashed itself against the tree stump and broke its neck while he was working in the field. He was very happy to get the dead rabbit without any effort. Since then, he stopped ploughing the fields. He just stood by the stump waiting for another rabbit to hit into the tree itself again. After a few days without any gains, he realized that he wouldn’t get another rabbit by luck. By then, however, his field withered (枯萎的) due to the lack of care.
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