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Chinese Proverbs: The Wisdom of Cheng-Yu
Beautifully produced in traditional Chinese binding, this book contains over 100 chengyu with its literal meaning, idiomatic meaning, and a short description of where the saying was derived from.
Chengyu in standard pinyin transliteration and pronounced chung ewe, literally translates as "become a saying" or more idiomatically "set phrase". They usually consist of four characters, though there is one chengyu in this collection with five characters. Chengyu add a depth and richness of expression to modern Chinese, which quite often is difficult to fully translate. English, too, has its own proverbs and idioms. These serve much the same function but they do not have the same standard format as chengyu and they are not as commonly used.
Almost all of the chengyu included in this collection refer back to stories found in some of the earliest Chinese literature. Many of these sources stem from either famous Chinese philosophers, such as Confucius and Zhuangzi, or historical records, particularly of the period known as the Warring States (476-221 BCE), when China was almost constantly caught up in civil war. Gaining familiarity of chengyu does not just improve one's spoken Chinese, but it also gives an insight into the richness and variety of Chinese history and tradition.
Chengyu in standard pinyin transliteration and pronounced chung ewe, literally translates as "become a saying" or more idiomatically "set phrase". They usually consist of four characters, though there is one chengyu in this collection with five characters. Chengyu add a depth and richness of expression to modern Chinese, which quite often is difficult to fully translate. English, too, has its own proverbs and idioms. These serve much the same function but they do not have the same standard format as chengyu and they are not as commonly used.
Almost all of the chengyu included in this collection refer back to stories found in some of the earliest Chinese literature. Many of these sources stem from either famous Chinese philosophers, such as Confucius and Zhuangzi, or historical records, particularly of the period known as the Warring States (476-221 BCE), when China was almost constantly caught up in civil war. Gaining familiarity of chengyu does not just improve one's spoken Chinese, but it also gives an insight into the richness and variety of Chinese history and tradition.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 5, 2013
I bought this book on a whim yesterday and am completely in love with it! I found this book on one of the bargain shelves in Barnes & Noble while my husband was buying Legos. [Those of you who know me, know my pain! :) ] My 9 year old son is studying Chinese, and he teaches me what he learns, so I am a beginner Mandarin learner (only around 200 or so characters read/write/speak -- simplified only, though I can decipher some traditional characters) and I'm drawn to anything with Chinese characters -- newspapers, books, signs, etc. Usually, I lose interest since my knowledge is so limited. However, I could look through this book for hours. It's just beautiful, and it's perfect for someone like me who is interested in the Chinese language and culture.
The book is weighty (789 grams) and feels good in your hands. The pages are printed in (from the front of the book) "traditional Chinese bookbinding techniques... single sheets of paper are printed on one side only, and each sheet is folded in half with the printed pages on the outside. The book block is then sandwiched between two boards and sewn together through punched holes close to the cut edges of the folded sheets."
There is one idiomatic expression per page, with the characters in a large font. I don't know enough about fonts, or Chinese fonts, for that matter, but it's the kind of font that is absolutely a machine font (I hate the fonts that attempt to mimic brush strokes too faithfully, because they're difficult for me to read), but has the tapered, slanted and triangular ends that sort-of indicate stroke direction. I don't know if that makes any sense to you, but if you're desperately trying to understand stroke order and direction like I am, I hope this will seem familiar to you. There are four characters per expression, in a 2x2 matrix, and they are written in the traditional way, where you start with the top right character, and read down and then down the next left column. Under the characters, it shows the pin yin of the phrase with a parenthetical anglicized pronunciation under that. Then, there is a literal meaning, an idiomatic meaning and then a paragraph of the cultural history behind the phrase.
My husband, who doesn't really buy anything on a whim, and is a bit suspicious of commercial motives asked me "What if it's all made up and none of it is really in common usage?" This was a great and timely question, since we left Barnes & Noble to pick our son up at his Chinese class, so I showed the book to his teacher. She thought it was very nice looking and confirmed that yes, these are actual Chinese idioms. She seemed impressed with the book and asked where I bought it.
The writing is simple and efficient and the book is elegant. An eight or a nine year old can look through it and be interested and not overwhelmed, and an adult would not find it patronizing at all. This book would be a perfect gift for a beginner or intermediate Chinese learner who also likes to learn a little bit about the history and culture of China. I say "a little bit" because it does not get too in-depth. Actually, even if you don't know the language at all, but just appreciate Chinese characters for their great beauty, or you just like bite-size bits of cultural and/or linguisitic history, you would also appreciate this book. I actually wish I had a book just like this one for 10 more languages. It's that interesting.
The book is weighty (789 grams) and feels good in your hands. The pages are printed in (from the front of the book) "traditional Chinese bookbinding techniques... single sheets of paper are printed on one side only, and each sheet is folded in half with the printed pages on the outside. The book block is then sandwiched between two boards and sewn together through punched holes close to the cut edges of the folded sheets."
There is one idiomatic expression per page, with the characters in a large font. I don't know enough about fonts, or Chinese fonts, for that matter, but it's the kind of font that is absolutely a machine font (I hate the fonts that attempt to mimic brush strokes too faithfully, because they're difficult for me to read), but has the tapered, slanted and triangular ends that sort-of indicate stroke direction. I don't know if that makes any sense to you, but if you're desperately trying to understand stroke order and direction like I am, I hope this will seem familiar to you. There are four characters per expression, in a 2x2 matrix, and they are written in the traditional way, where you start with the top right character, and read down and then down the next left column. Under the characters, it shows the pin yin of the phrase with a parenthetical anglicized pronunciation under that. Then, there is a literal meaning, an idiomatic meaning and then a paragraph of the cultural history behind the phrase.
My husband, who doesn't really buy anything on a whim, and is a bit suspicious of commercial motives asked me "What if it's all made up and none of it is really in common usage?" This was a great and timely question, since we left Barnes & Noble to pick our son up at his Chinese class, so I showed the book to his teacher. She thought it was very nice looking and confirmed that yes, these are actual Chinese idioms. She seemed impressed with the book and asked where I bought it.
The writing is simple and efficient and the book is elegant. An eight or a nine year old can look through it and be interested and not overwhelmed, and an adult would not find it patronizing at all. This book would be a perfect gift for a beginner or intermediate Chinese learner who also likes to learn a little bit about the history and culture of China. I say "a little bit" because it does not get too in-depth. Actually, even if you don't know the language at all, but just appreciate Chinese characters for their great beauty, or you just like bite-size bits of cultural and/or linguisitic history, you would also appreciate this book. I actually wish I had a book just like this one for 10 more languages. It's that interesting.
December 8, 2025
why did i buy a book of chinese proverbs from a british man ?
January 17, 2021
Really fun stories from the past
December 3, 2016
The details on the history of the Cheng-yu is too short to really understand why the proverb is popular. Most of them leave me scratching my head. But I enjoyed reading the Mandarin pinyon and the lovely characters.
June 1, 2013
Short and fun
October 19, 2015
Educational
February 16, 2016
The book is as advertised. Even has an index.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews