Chinese Proverbs
Chinese proverbs
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o Literally: A drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring. o Meaning: Even if it was just a little help from others, you should return the favor with all you can when others are in need.
• ， o Literally: If one person is not hungry, the whole family is not hungry. o Meaning: Families will make sacrifices for individual members of the family. o Common Misunderstanding: If one person in the family is happy, the whole family is happy.
• , o Literally: o Meaning:
• ，(ice+freeze+three+units(~feet),not+one+day's(7th and 8th)+chill) o Literally: A single day of sub-zero temperature is not enough to create three feet of ice. o Moral: Great things cannot be accomplished in a short period of time. o Compare: Rome was not built in a day (Roma non fu fatta in un giorno, Italian proverb).
• (big+water+poured over+finish+dragon+king+temple) o Literally: The Dragon-King's temple is flooded. o Moral: You can be harmed by the things you control. o Explanation: The Dragon-King is a mystical creature that lives underwater and controls the natural bodies of water. People visit the dragon-king temple to placate him and prevent floods, thus this proverb is ironic situationally (Sometimes this proverb is used as '大水冲了龙王庙，一家人不认一家人' (...yi1 jia1 ren2 bu4 ren4 yi1 jia1 ren2 ...one+home+person+not+know+one+home+person), or, One family member doesn't recognize another family member. The idiom might be used to resolve an embarrassing situation. For example, someone has a conflict with a stranger, only to find the stranger was a neighbor, or a sister's boyfriend, or any other person with some relation. The two might use this idiom to save face and make peace with each other, comparing the conflict to that of the flooded dragon-king's temple (dragon-king: rain god in some sense).
• (empty+cave+come+wind+not+surely+not+cause) o Literally: If the wind comes from an empty cave, it's not without a reason. o Moral: There is no smoke
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o Literally: A drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring. o Meaning: Even if it was just a little help from others, you should return the favor with all you can when others are in need.
• ， o Literally: If one person is not hungry, the whole family is not hungry. o Meaning: Families will make sacrifices for individual members of the family. o Common Misunderstanding: If one person in the family is happy, the whole family is happy.
• , o Literally: o Meaning:
• ，(ice+freeze+three+units(~feet),not+one+day's(7th and 8th)+chill) o Literally: A single day of sub-zero temperature is not enough to create three feet of ice. o Moral: Great things cannot be accomplished in a short period of time. o Compare: Rome was not built in a day (Roma non fu fatta in un giorno, Italian proverb).
• (big+water+poured over+finish+dragon+king+temple) o Literally: The Dragon-King's temple is flooded. o Moral: You can be harmed by the things you control. o Explanation: The Dragon-King is a mystical creature that lives underwater and controls the natural bodies of water. People visit the dragon-king temple to placate him and prevent floods, thus this proverb is ironic situationally (Sometimes this proverb is used as '大水冲了龙王庙，一家人不认一家人' (...yi1 jia1 ren2 bu4 ren4 yi1 jia1 ren2 ...one+home+person+not+know+one+home+person), or, One family member doesn't recognize another family member. The idiom might be used to resolve an embarrassing situation. For example, someone has a conflict with a stranger, only to find the stranger was a neighbor, or a sister's boyfriend, or any other person with some relation. The two might use this idiom to save face and make peace with each other, comparing the conflict to that of the flooded dragon-king's temple (dragon-king: rain god in some sense).
• (empty+cave+come+wind+not+surely+not+cause) o Literally: If the wind comes from an empty cave, it's not without a reason. o Moral: There is no smoke