Assassins and spaceships and evil doings! Start reading Chapter One of the novel Support Human Beings by Liu Cixin, author of China's most famous sci-fi
Story Behind the Idiom: 画蛇添足 – The dangers of showing offStory Behind the Idiom: 画蛇添足 – The dangers of showing off
This is the first 成语 backstory I recall reading in class. It's about a guy who can't help but flaunt his superior skill in front of others, and the nasty
Story behind the idiom: 画龙点睛 – Perfect words at a critical momentStory behind the idiom: 画龙点睛 – Perfect words at a critical moment
This is the legend that underpins the idiom, which typically describes the use of a couple of perfectly-chosen words or sentences, added a critical moment in written works or spoken
Story Behind the Idiom: 盲人摸象 – To only partially understand somethingStory Behind the Idiom: 盲人摸象 – To only partially understand something
The story behind the classic Chinese idiom (成语 chéng yǔ) “Blind People Touch an Elephant” (“盲人摸象” máng rén mō xiàng)
Folk tales of real people: 《岳飞纹字》Yue Fei’s TattooFolk tales of real people: 《岳飞纹字》Yue Fei’s Tattoo
Song dynasty warrior-poet and folk hero Yuefei (岳飞) gets a tattoo to remind himself of his duty to his country. This is an “advanced” post for three reasons: one, there