25 Idioms from Chinese Historical Classics

Visiting three times to recruit talent

Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang's cottage three times. True leadership means humbly seeking talent.

Battle of Red Cliffs; strategy defeats numbers

A legendary battle where 50,000 allied forces defeated Cao Cao's 800,000 with a fire attack.

Oath of the Peach Garden; deep brotherhood

Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei swore brotherhood in the peach garden.

Borrowing arrows with straw boats; brilliant strategy

Zhuge Liang sent straw boats in fog to collect 100,000 arrows from Cao Cao's forces.

Empty fort strategy; bluffing strength

Zhuge Liang sat calmly playing the lute in an empty fort, and Sima Yi retreated fearing an ambush.

Everything is ready; only the east wind is needed

Before the Red Cliffs battle, everything was ready but they needed the southeast wind.

Surrounded by enemies on all sides

Xiang Yu heard Chu songs from all directions at Gaixia, realizing his soldiers had all defected.

Formation with water behind; fighting with no retreat

Han Xin placed his troops with a river behind them, forcing them to fight desperately and win.

Rolling up the dust and coming back; making a comeback

After Xiang Yu's defeat, this idiom means "raising dust again" — making a comeback.

Breaking pots and sinking boats; desperate determination

Xiang Yu sank his boats and broke his pots after crossing a river, showing no retreat.

Secretly crossing at Chencang; deception strategy

Han Xin pretended to repair the plank road while secretly advancing through Chencang.

Ambush from ten directions; perfect encirclement

Han Xin's strategy of encircling Xiang Yu at Gaixia; means a perfect tactical plan.

Sleeping on firewood and tasting gall; enduring for revenge

King Goujian of Yue slept on firewood and tasted gall daily to never forget his defeat by Wu.

Three in morning, four at night; fooled by superficial changes

Monkeys were angry at "3 in morning, 4 at night" but happy at "4 in morning, 3 at night" — same total.

Marking a boat to find a dropped sword; inflexible thinking

A man dropped his sword in water, marked the boat, then tried to find the sword where the mark was.

A spear that pierces everything meets a shield that blocks everything; contradiction

From Han Feizi: a merchant selling both an all-piercing spear and an all-blocking shield — a logical contradiction.

Returning the jade intact to Zhao; completing a mission perfectly

Lin Xiangru protected the He Shi jade disc from the King of Qin. The Korean word for "perfect" (완벽) comes from this story.

The old man at the border's horse; fortune is unpredictable

An old man's horse ran away but returned with fine horses; his son broke his leg riding but was spared from war.

Fisherman's profit; a third party benefits from others' conflict

A clam and a snipe held each other, and a fisherman caught both — from the Strategies of the Warring States.