Regard others as mirrors (以人为镜 yi ren wei jing)


In ancient China, there was an emperor of the Tang Dynasty called Li Shi Min. He was different from other emperors because he liked to listen to others' opinions.

He had a prime minister called Wei Zheng.

Whenever Li Shi Min made a mistake, Wei Zheng would tell him of this. Even in public, Wei Zheng would sometimes ask the emperor to reconsider a decision. The minister reminded the emperor to think about possible dangers in the future even when it was peace time.

Each time, the emperor would take Wei Zheng's advice into consideration and would try his best to act according to what Wei Zheng had suggested.

After Wei Zheng died, the emperor was deeply saddened. He spoke to his other ministers: "If one uses a copper plate as a mirror, one can see whether one's appearance is proper or not. If one uses history as a mirror, one can see why a nation stays strong or dies out. If one uses another person as a mirror, one can see whether his own actions are right or wrong. Now that Wei Zheng is dead, I have lost my most precious mirror."

From this story, we can see that the emperor regarded Wei Zheng as a mirror to judge whether his own actions were right or wrong. So from this, the idiom "Regard others as mirrors" developed.

以人为镜(yǐ rén wéi jìng)

在中国的历史上,有一位唐朝的皇帝叫李世民(lǐ shì mín),和其他中国古代皇帝不同的是,他喜欢听各种不同的意见.

他有一个大臣(dà chén)叫魏征(wèi zhēng).

不管什么时候,只要李世民有不对的地方,魏征就会提出来,有时甚至当着众人的面给他提意见,要他重新考虑,居安思危(jū ān sī wēi).

每一次,李世民都认真思考魏征所提的意见并尽量采纳(cǎi nà),按照魏征的说法约束自己的言行,妥善(tuǒ shàn)处理国家的事务.

魏 征去世后,李世民很难过,曾深有感触地对朝中(朝廷中)大臣说:"一个人用铜作镜子,可以照见衣帽是不是穿戴(chuān dài)整齐(zhěng qí);以历史为镜子,可以知道一个国家存在和灭亡(miè wáng)的原因;以人为镜子,可以知道自己做得对还是不对.*

现在魏征死了,我失去了最珍贵的一面镜子."

由此可见,李世民把魏征当成了一面镜子,以这面镜子来判断自己做得是不是正确,所以就有了"以人为镜"的成语.

Glad i was able to Join this group.

Chinese idioms are My Favorite aspect

of learning Mandarin.

anyone know where i can find morer audio lessons of idioms let me know.

xie xie ni

Chinese idioms and sayings often make my head swirl.  There are so many so I almost always forget all of them.  I went online looking for the most common ones and found the following list.  Who knows if they are the most common, but they do seem mostly useful.  Anyway, I thought some of you might find them interesting.

天道酬勤      God helps those who help themselves.　
熟能生巧      Practices make perfect. / Skill comes from practice.
不眠之夜      white night　
爱屋及乌      Love me, love my dog.
不遗余力      spare no effort; go all out; do one\'s best
笨鸟先飞      A slow sparrow should make an early start.
辞旧迎新      bid farewell to the old and usher in the new; 
                   ring out the old year and ring in the new
大开眼界      open one\'s eyes; broaden one\'s horizon; be an eye-opener
国泰民安      The country flourishes and people live in peace
过犹不及      going too far is as bad as not going far enough; 
                   beyond is as wrong as falling short; too much is as bad as too little
和气生财      Harmony brings wealth
既往不咎      let bygones be bygones 
金玉满堂      Treasures fill the home
脚踏实地      be down-to-earth
茅塞顿开      be suddenly enlightened
马到成功      achieve immediate victory; win instant success
名利双收      gain in both fame and wealth
弄巧成拙      be too smart by half; Cunning outwits itself.
拿手好戏      masterpiece
礼尚往来      Courtesy calls for reciprocity.

脚踩两只船            sit on the fence
不打不成交            "No discord, no concord.
百闻不如一见         Seeing is believing.
拆东墙补西墙         rob Peter to pay Paul
活到老，学到老      One is never too old to learn.
有志者，事竟成      Where there is a will, there is a way.
功夫不负有心人      Everything comes to him who waits.
好了伤疤忘了疼      once on shore, one prays no more
赔了夫人又折兵      throw good money after bad
君子之交淡如水      the friendship between gentlemen is as pure as crystal; a hedge between keeps friendship green
每逢佳节倍思亲　   On festive occasions more than ever one thinks of one\'s dear ones far away. It is on the festival occasions when one misses his dear most.

没有规矩不成方圆         Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards.
不以物喜，不以己悲      not pleased by external gains, not saddened by personnal losses
金无足赤，人无完人      Gold can\'t be pure and man can\'t be perfect.
老生常谈，陈词滥调      cut and dried, cliché
比上不足，比下有余      "worse off than some, better off than many; to fall short of the best, but be better than the worst
谋事在人，成事在天      "The planning lies with man, the outcome with Heaven. Man proposes, God disposes. "
大事化小，小事化了      try first to make their mistake sound less serious and then to reduce it to nothing at all
好事不出门，恶事传千里   Good news never goes beyond the gate, while bad news spread far and wide.
留得青山在，不怕没柴烧   "Where there is life, there is hope."

My source is here.

By the way, if anyone has a better list, please share.

Who has the best line in idioms?  I am going to lose hands-down, but it could be fun.  My inspiration is a book called 'On the smell of an oily rag' by Ouyang Yu, a Chinese perspective on translation challenges, written in English (if that makes sense.)  The description 'poison pen' comes to mind (- 中文怎么说？) but it is wonderful stuff - I will share some from time to time,if there is any interest.

A Chinese proverb goes: 一百遮十丑 yi bai zhe shi chou (one white covers up ten uglinesses.) This is juxtaposed with an equally dodgy Australian saying: two Wongs do not make a white, which the author re-transates into Chinese as 两个黄和一个白不一样。

I am going to revive this group!

十全十美

Shí quán shí měi

Completely perfect, to be perfect in every way.

Literally "ten complete, ten beautiful"

I love this idiom. It's very sweet sounding to my ears.