Following on from our post about dating expressions a few weeks back, here are a few more funny Chinese phrases about relationships for you…A lot of them seem to be animal-related, particularly about different animals eating grass!

1. 一个萝卜一个坑 (yí ge luóbo yí ge kēng)  “One radish, one hole”

This phrase can be used to mean that there is someone out there for everyone/ a good match for everyone, no matter what they are like.

Another meaning of this phrase is that there is a place for everyone in society and that nobody is dispensable.

This fits in with another radish-related phrase 萝卜白菜各有所爱(luóbo báicài gè yǒu suǒ ài) which means that “everyone has their own preferences”. This can also used be used to mean that not everyone has the same criteria when looking for a partner.

2. 情人眼里出西施 (qíngrén yǎn li chū xīshī) “In the eyes of a lover, Xi Shi appears”

Xi Shi lived during the Spring and Autumns period and was one of the 4 famous great beauties of ancient China. This phrase, therefore, means that everyone thinks his/her own partner is as beautiful as Xi Shi, regardless of how they may appear to other people.

3. 好马不吃回头草 (hǎomǎ bù chī huítóucǎo) “Good horses don’t go back to graze on grass they have already eaten”

This phrase can be used to mean that if you respect yourself, you will not go back to former partners.

It can also be used to mean that someone will not go back to a former employer once they have worked elsewhere.

4. 兔子不吃窝边草(tùzi bù chī wō biān cǎo) “Rabbits do not eat the grass near their nests”

This phrase can be used to mean that people shouldn’t start relationships with people who are too close to them e.g. colleagues, neighbors etc.

Another usage of this phrase is that even bad people will be good to those who are close to them (family, neighbors etc).

5. 老牛吃嫩草 (lǎo niú chī nèncǎo)  “An old cow eats fresh grass”

This one is slightly more obvious – used if a noticeably older person starts a relationship with someone much younger than him/her.

6. 一朵鲜花插在牛粪 (yì duǒ xiānhuā chā zài niúfèn) “A beautiful flower sticking out of cow dung”

This is used to describe a situation where one partner is more attractive than the other.

7. 他/她红杏出墙了 (tā hóngxìng chū qiáng) “His/her red apricots have grown beyond the wall” (just the literal translation)

This is used to show that someone is having an affair. Other ways to say this include: 她/他有外遇了(tā/ tā yǒu wàiyù le), 他们之间有第三者了 (tāmen zhījiān yǒu dìsānzhě le) “there is a 3^rd person between them”.

If you can think of any more of your own, then share them with us below…If you have any questions about your Chinese learning, then please get in touch with the Chinese School online team! Sign up for your free trial Chinese class on our website today!

Ever heard of someone being called an “iron rooster” (铁公鸡tiěgōngjī) in Chinese? Well, if you have any friends who are always last to put their hand in their pocket when it comes to paying the bill, then these phrases might just come in handy!

This week’s chéngyǔ is: 一毛不拔(yì máo bù bá)

一  yī      one

毛  máo    hair

不  bù       not

拔  bá      pull out

Literally: “unwilling to put out even one hair”

Meaning: “extremely stingy with money”

Other ways to say this:

吝啬小气 lìnsè xiǎoqi- These 2 words can either be used together or separately to indicate that someone is tight with their money, although this is not as extreme as saying 一毛不拔。

占小便宜zhàn xiǎo piányí  “to make small gains at other’s expense” – To always try to get away with letting others pay for things for you, or always try to pay a bit less than your fair share (贪小便宜tān xiǎo piányí has the same meaning).

There is another Chinese saying, 占小便宜吃大亏(zhàn xiǎo piányí chī dà kuī), which means that if you always try to get away with not paying your fair share, then you will eventually suffer a great loss!

铁公鸡 tiěgōngjī “iron rooster” – This may also originate from this idiom, as an iron rooster would be unable to shed a single feather. Used to refer to a person who is particularly stingy or miserly, a scrooge.

Story behind the chéngyǔ

During the Warring States period, there were many different schools of thought. One philosopher called Mo Zhai believed that people should always look out for one another, rather than fighting and killing one another due to self-interest. Another philosopher called Yang Zhu believed that every man had to look out for himself first and foremost in life.

One day, Mo Zhai’s student, Qin Hua, asked Yang Zhu, “If you could pull out a single hair from your body and by doing so, save mankind, would you do it?” Yang Zhu replied, “Mankind’s problems could not be solved by pulling out a single hair”. Qin Hua persisted, “If they could, would you do it?” But Yang Zhu still didn’t agree to do so.

This story is about someone who is unwilling to do a small thing, even if it might have great benefit to someone else. The modern meaning has deviated from this slightly, and although it still indicates someone being selfish, it is now used specifically with regard to money, and so can be translated as being “extremely stingy”.

Example sentences

1.  他的月收入将近5万元，但是他对父母却一毛不拔。

(Tā de yuè shōurù jiāngjìn 5 wàn yuán, dànshì tā duì fùmǔ què yìmáobùbá)

He earns almost 50,000RMB per month, but he is still very stingy with his parents.

2.  他的同学不待见他，因为每次一起吃饭，他像个铁公鸡一毛不拔。

(Tā de tóngxué bù dàijiàn tā, yīnwèi měi cì yīqǐ chīfàn, tā xiàng gè tiěgōngjī yīmáobùbá).

His classmates don’t like him very much. Whenever they go out to eat together, he is always very stingy and never pays his fair share.

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Each week, Chinese School Online will introduce you to a new Chinese idiom (成语chéngyǔ) and the story behind it to help you remember it!

Today’s chéngyǔ is: 拔苗助长bá miáo zhù zhǎng

Literal meaning: “pulling up the seedlings to help them grow”

Meaning: “ruining things by putting too much pressure on them/by trying excessively hard”

The Story

During the Spring and Autumn Period (722-479BC), in the state of Song, there was a farmer who was waiting anxiously for his crops to grow. He measured them every day, but was very disappointed at how slowly they were growing. One day he came up with a solution to his problem. He decided to pull the crops up out of the ground to make them taller and worked hard all day long until he had done this to every one. He then went home and proudly told his son about his ingenious plan. His son then went out to have a look, but by this point, all the crops were already dead.

This story, therefore, tells us that by being too impatient or by wanting things too much, we can actually do more harm than good.

Example sentences

1.        让小孩子写那么多作业，简直是拔苗助长（Ràng xiǎo háizi xiě nàme duō zuòyè, jiǎnzhí shì bámiáozhùzhǎng）

Making small children do that much homework will do more harm than good.

2.        孩子教育切忌拔苗助长（Háizi jiàoyù qièjì bámiáozhùzhǎng）

We must be sure to avoid putting too much pressure on children in their education, as it will have negative effects.

3.        爱情不能拔苗助长 (Àiqíng bùnéng bámiáozhùzhǎng)

You can’t put too much pressure on love or it won’t last.

If you have any questions, then please let the Chinese School Online team know and we will do our best to help you out! Sign up for your free trial Chinese class on Chinese School Online’s website today!

Here are a few fun Chinese expressions for talking about some characteristics (/stereotypes) of men and women. If you can think of any more, please feel free to post them below!

Men

1. 钻石王老五(zuànshí wánglǎowǔ), “A single, wealthy man.” Zuànshí means “diamond” and wánglǎowǔ means “the 5th son of Wang”, who I guess must have been a rich guy. A common way to refer to the kind of rich, eligible bachelors that many people are chasing after!

2. 花花公子(huāhuāgōngzǐ), “A playboy” , literally “a flowery prince” (can also be referred to as 花心大萝卜huāxīn dà luóbo, literally “a flowery hearted big radish”!)

3. 情场老手(qíngchǎng lǎoshǒu), “A player”, literally means “an old hand on the lover’s field”.

4. 三十而立, 四十不惑，五十知天命 (sānshí ér lì, sìshí bù huò, wǔshí zhī tiānmìng) “By 30, a man should be independent, by 40, a man should have no uncertainties, by 50, a man will know his fate.” A lot of pressure for the Chinese guys then!

5. 男人四十一枝花，女人四十豆腐渣儿 (nánrén sìshí yī zhī huā，nǚrén sìshí dòufǔ zhāér) “At age 40, men are flowers, women are soya bean dregs.” Charming!

Women

1. 拜金女(bài jīn nǚ) “A material girl”, literally “a woman who worships gold”.

2. 白骨精(báigǔjīng) “A strong woman”, literally means “white-boned demon” and refers to a character in the Chinese classic Journey to the West (西游记xīyóujì). This is now commonly used to refer to strong-willed and independent women who know their own mind (you can also say 女强人nǚ qiángrén to refer to successful career women).

3. 花瓶(huāpíng) “A woman who is nothing more than a pretty face”, literally “a vase”.

4. 小三儿(xiǎo sānér) “The other woman/mistress”, literally “little number three” (can also be known as 二奶èrnǎi).

5. 剩女(shèngnǚ) “A leftover woman.” This is used to refer to single career women, usually women in their thirties who haven’t married or had children yet. The word 剩男(shèngnán) does also exist, but is far less widely used than the female equivalent.

There are so many more, so if you can think of any, please share them with us! And if you have any questions, please get in touch with the Chinese School Online team! Sign up for your free trial Chinese class with one of our expert online Chinese teachers on our website, www.chineseschoolonline.com.

If you have been studying Mandarin for a while, then you might want to learn some chengyu, Chinese idioms which usually, but not always, take the form of 4 character phrases. Using chengyu is a great way to show off your language skills, but only if you can use them correctly! As with idioms in any language, it is very easy to go wrong, leaving you looking rather stupid…Another big problem is that many of the chengyu you’ll find in books are outdated and barely ever used. The list below is of five commonly used chengyu, which you will hopefully get a chance to use without looking too pretentious!

1.         人山人海rénshānrénhǎi

Literally means “mountains of people and seas of people”

This phrase might come in handy when you’re living in a country with 1.3 billion people…This is usually used to describe the vast number of people at a particular event, for example at a miaohui (temple fair) around Chinese New Year.

e.g. 国庆节那天，天安门广场上人山人海，热闹极了！ On National Day, Tiananmen Square was absolutely packed with people.

2.         乱七八糟luànqībāzāo

This means “a complete mess”, “chaotic” or “disordered”.

This is a phrase that I hear Chinese people using all the time and it’s one that you can easily fit into daily conversation to describe something which is in a complete mess.

e.g. 他的办公室乱七八糟的，自己都不知道东西放哪儿了。His office is such a mess; he doesn’t even know himself where he has put things.

老师一出去孩子们就把教室弄得乱七八糟的。As soon as the teacher went out, the children made a mess in the classroom.

3.         司空见惯sīkōngjiànguàn

This is used to describe something which has become commonplace or the norm, something which has happened many times and now people have got used to it.

e.g. 他考试考第一，已经是司空见惯的事情了。He got the top mark in the exam again, but no one expected any different.

商场用打折的方法吸引顾客，这是司空见惯的事儿。The mall often has sales to attract customers. It’s nothing out of the ordinary！

4.         一见如故yíjiànrúgù

This means “to be like old friends as soon as you meet” or “to hit it off straight away”.

e.g. 他们一见如故，彻夜长谈。 They hit it off straight away and talked all night.

5. 坐井观天  zuòjǐngguāntiān

This chengyu literally means “to sit in a well and look at the sky” and so it is used to mean “have a restricted outlook” or “to be narrow-minded”.

This phrase is based on the story of a frog that spent his whole life sitting in a well thinking how small the world was. One day a turtle came along and saw the frog sitting there and thought to himself that the frog really knew nothing of the real world. The phrase井底之蛙jǐngdǐzhīwā “a frog at the bottom of a well” comes from the same story and is used to refer to a person who, like the frog, is very sheltered and unaware of many things.

e.g. 不要像井底之蛙一样 Don’t be so narrow-minded!

我们要全面分析问题，不能像井底之蛙一样坐井观天。We should analyze problems from all sides, we shouldn’t “be like frogs sitting in a well and looking at the sky”, i.e. shouldn’t be one-sided in our analysis.

As I said before, not all chengyu are 4 character phrases. Below are a couple of examples of longer chengyu:

一分耕耘 一分收获  yì fēn gēngyún yì fēn shōuhuò

“The more ploughing and weeding you do, the better your crop will be.” I guess the English equivalent could be “you reap what you sow”. The harder you try at something, the better it will be in the end.

e.g. 我今天学了8个小时的中文，虽然有点儿累，但是我学到了很多有用的东西。一分耕耘一分收获嘛。

I studied 8 hours of Chinese today, and although it was quite tiring, I learnt a lot. You get back what you put in.

一寸光阴一寸金  yí cùn guāngyīn yí cùn jīn

This chengyu means “one inch of time is like one inch of gold”, indicating that time is very precious.

e.g. 俗话说：一寸光阴一寸金。时间很宝贵，千万别浪费啊！

Many people say: “Time is of the essence”. Time is very precious. Make sure that you don’t waste it!

If you want to learn more phrases like this, come and study Chinese online with Chinese School Online, where we have classes to suit students of any level! You can sign up for your free trial lesson any time!