Hide your capacities and bide your time-----about chinese idiom

韬光养晦 hide one's capacities and bide one's time

I know you have been concealing your abilities.

The sword had been hidden away for too long.

Now is the time to draw the blade.

Yeah, the pics are from Red Cliff , which is the lastest movie directed by John Woo and stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling and Zhao Wei. With an estimated budget of US$80 million, Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date.

Idioms and proverbs are the essence of language. Chinese, like any other language in the world, contains myriad of colorful and profound idioms.

韬光养晦 hide one's capacities and bide one's time
说曹操,曹操到 Talk of the devil and he comes.

　　糖衣炮弹 sugar-coated bullets

　　天有不测风云 Anything unexpected may happen. a bolt from the blue

　　团结就是力量 Unity is strength.

　　物以类聚，人以群分 Birds of a feather flock together.

　　往事如风 "The past has vanished (from memory) like wind.; What in past, is past."

　　望子成龙 hold high hopes for one's child

　　屋漏又逢连阴雨 Misfortunes never come singly. When it rains it pours.

And you may learn more from chinese idiom

Idioms and proverbs are the essence of language. Chinese, like any other language in the world, contains myriad of colorful and profound idioms.


Similar to English idiom, 成语 (Chéngyǔ) are also word groups and phrases which are established through usage and are accepted through practice. Unlike English idiom, a 成语 (Chéngyǔ) is often made of a fixed number of Chinese characters which pronunciations tend to rhyme. The most common word length of a 成语 (Chéngyǔ) is four. There are also some 成语 (Chéngyǔ) which are of 3, 6, 7, 8, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5, 6+6, 7+7, etc., characters.

Chinese idioms and proverbs ( 成语 Chéngyǔ) are a unique and fun part of the Chinese language and culture. Many of them are derived from classical stories and have meanings, which are not readily apparent. Proper usage of these idioms in speech and writing can add much to the perceived level of your Chinese learning, and their mastery is an essential step in becoming a fluent speaker.