Chinese Idiom Stories

Chinese Idiom Stories

To Neglect The Root And Attend To The Tip

During the Warring States Period, the king of Ch'i once sent a messenger to the kingdom of Chao, to call on the king and deliver a letter sending his regards. Before the king of Chao even opened the letter, he asked the messenger, "How are the crops in Ch'i growing this year? How are the people? Is the king in good health?" The messenger very angrily answered, "It is the king of Ch'i who sent me to call on you, and yet you first ask about the crops and the people. Could it be that you are concerned more with the lowly than with the noble?" The king replied, "You don't understand. If we know that a country has no crop, how could it have any people? And if it has no people, where does the king come from? Could it be that you want me to neglect the root, and attend to the tip?"

Today, the idiom "To Neglect The Root And Attend To The Tip" means to attend to trifles to the neglect of the essentials.

捨本逐末

戰國時候，有一次，齊國的國王派人到趙國去訪問趙王，還帶著齊王的親筆問候信。趙王還沒把信拆開，就先問派來的人說：「貴國今年的莊稼好嗎？人民的生活怎麼樣？國王的身體好嗎？」那人聽了，很不高興地回答說：「是齊王派我來向您問候的，您不問候齊王，反而先問莊稼和人民，難道是先賤後貴嗎？」趙王說：「你的觀念錯了，要知道一個國家沒有莊稼，那裡會有人民？如果沒有人民，那裡來的國王呢？難道你讓我捨本去問末事嗎？」

捨本問末是說不重視根本，反而重視不重要的事，也就是現在說的「捨本逐末」。

Alphabetical - A · B · D · E · F · G · H · I · L · M · O · P · R · S · T · U · V · W ·

A

A Dried Fish Store (枯魚之肆)
A Roc's Flight of Ten Thousand Li - A Bright Future (鵬程萬里)
A Warning Taken From The Overturned Cart Ahead (前車之鑑)
Aping a Beauty (醜女效顰)
As Precarious As a Pile of Eggs (危如累卵)
At Whose Hand Will The Dear Die (鹿死誰手)

B

Bring The Dying Back To Life (起死回生)

D

Do Not Burn Your House To Get Rid of A Mouse (投鼠忌器)
Doing It Right (賞罰得宜)

E

Eight Decalitres of Talent (才高八斗)
Every Bush and Tree Looks Like an Enemy (草木皆兵)
Everything is Ready Except the East Wind (萬事俱備只欠東風)

F

First Arrogant, Then Respectful (前倨後恭)

G

Give The Wrong-Doer a Way Out (網開一面)

H

Heard On The Street And Spoken of In The Road (道聽塗說)
Heaven's Clothes Have No Stitches (天衣無縫)
Hide a Dagger in a Smile (笑裡藏刀)
Honey In The Mouth And Swords In The Stomach (口蜜腹劍)
How The Foolish Old Man Moved Mountains (愚公移山)

I

If The Lips Are Gone, The Teeth Will Be Cold (唇亡齒寒)
Ignorance of The Objective World (不合時宜)
Indigo Blue is Extracted From The Indigo Plant (青出於藍)

L

Lamenting One's Littleness before the Vast Ocean (望洋興歎)
Like Fire and Flowering Rush (如火如荼)
Looking for a Steed with the Aid Of Its Picture (按圖索驥)

M

Make Three Calls At The Thatched Cottage (三顧茅廬)
Mau Suei Recommends Himself (毛遂自薦)

O

Official Jiang Uses Up His Talent (江郎才盡)
On The Eastern Bed with His Stomach Exposed (袒腹東床)
One Character is Worth a Thousand Taels of Gold (一字千金)
One Day of Sunlight Followed By Ten Days of Cold (一暴十寒)
One Hair From Nine Oxen ( 九牛一毛)
One Strike Fires Up The Spirit (一鼓作氣)
Only One Side is Willing (一廂情願)

P

Paper is Expensive in Loyang (洛陽紙貴)
Perfectly Fair and Impartial (大公無私)
Plugging One's Ears While Stealing a Bell (掩耳盜鈴)
Practice Makes Perfect (熟能生巧)
Professed Love of What One Really Fears (葉公好龍)
Proficiency in a particular line (一技之長)
Pulling On One's Shoe In a Melon Patch, Or Adjusting One's Cap Under A Plum Tree (瓜田李下)

R

Randomly Speaking Out Orpiment (信口雌黃)
Retreating about Thirty Miles as Condition For Peace (退避三舍)

S

Shivering All Over Though Not Cold (不寒而慄)
Single-hearted Devotion (專心致志)
Songs of Ch'u on All Four Sides (四面楚歌)

T

The 'You' Cannot Decide (猶豫不決)
The Affair of The East Window Is Exposed (東窗事發)
The Bird Jingwei Trying To Fill The Sea (精衛填海)
The Broken Mirror is Put Back Together (破鏡重圓)
The Conceit of The King of Yelang (夜郎自大)
The Courtyard Is As Crowded As a Market Place (門庭若市)
The Debt Platform is Built Up High (債臺高築)
The Donkey In Ancient Guizhou Has Exhausted Its Tricks (黔驢技窮)
The Fox Borrows The Tiger's Power (狐假虎威)
The Fox Is Sad At The Death of The Hare (兔死狐悲)
The Frog in the Shallow Well (井底之蛙)
The Gentleman On The Beam (樑上君子)
The Horse Which Does Harm To The Herd - A Black Sheep (害群之馬)
The Host of The East (東道主人)
The Hounds Are Killed For Food Once All The Hares Are Bagged (兔死狗烹)
The King's Seabird (魯侯養鳥)
The Latecomers Surpass the Old-timers (後來居上)
The Man of Ch'i Fears That the Sky Will Fall (杞人憂天)
The Measurements Are More Reliable (愚人買鞋)
The More One Tries to Hide a Mistake, The More It Is Exposed (欲蓋彌彰)
The Old Horse Knows The Way (老馬識途)
The Old Man Under The Moon (月下老人)
The Old Man Who Lost His Horse (塞翁失馬)
The Plum Tree Sacrifices Itself For The Peach Tree-Sacrifice Oneself For Another Person (李代桃僵)
The Prime Minister's Gift (無功不受祿)
The Snipe and The Clam Have a Quarrel (鷸蚌相爭)
The Wolf and The Bei Make Mischief (狼狽為奸)
Three People Make a Tiger (三人成虎)
Three in the Morning and Four at Night (朝三暮四)
To Ask a Fox for Its Skin (與狐謀皮)
To Attempt To Go South by Driving the Chariot North (南轅北轍)
To Attract Jade by Laying Bricks (拋磚引玉)
To Be Able To Catch Sparrows On the Doorstep (門可羅雀)
To Be As If Sitting On a Bed of Needles (如坐針氈)
To Be Behind Sun Shan (名落孫山)
To Bend The Chimney and Move The Firewood (曲突徙薪)
To Break The Cauldrons And Sink The Boats (破釜沈舟)
To Bring Disaster Upon The Fish (殃及池魚)
To Carve a Mark in the Boat And Look For the Sword (刻舟求劍)
To Contradict Oneself (自相矛盾)
To Draw a Snake and Add on Feet (畫蛇添足)
To Fluff Up the Pillow And Have a Good Rest (高枕無憂)
To Hang Books On The Ox's Horn (牛角掛書)
To Have So Much Fun That One Forgets About Shu (樂不思蜀)
To Have an Image of Bamboo In One's Mind (胸有成竹)
To Knot Grass and Carry a Ring (結草銜環)
To Look At Someone With New Eyes (刮目相看)
To Lose The Sheep On A Forked Road (歧路亡羊)
To Make The Fish Sink And The Goose Fall (沈魚落雁)
To Make Up the Number in the Yu Ensemble (濫竽充數)
To Mistake The Reflection of The Bow For a Snake (杯弓蛇影)
To Mow The Grass And Scare The Snake (打草驚蛇)
To Neglect The Root And Attend To The Tip (捨本逐末)
To Offer The Warmth Of The Sun (獻曝之忱)
To Proffer a Birch and Ask For a Flogging (負荊請罪)
To Quench One's Thirst By Thinking of Plums (望梅止渴)
To Quit Halfway Down the Road (半途而廢)
To Repair The Fence After Losing The Sheep (亡羊補牢)
To Return the Jade Intact To Chao (完璧歸趙)
To Seek Small Gains But Incur Big Losses (貪小失大)
To Show Off One's Skill With an Axe In Front of Lu Ban's Door (班門弄斧)
To Sleep On Brushwood And Taste Gall (臥薪嘗膽)
To Speak Like a Flowing River (口若懸河)
To Strive For Words and Struggle for Reason (強詞奪理)
To Swallow Dates Whole (囫圇吞棗)
To Take By Treachery And Seize By Bullying (巧取豪奪)
To Try To Help The Shoots Grow By Pulling Them Upward (揠苗助長)
To Walk Rather Than Ride (安步當車)
To Watch The Dust Settle And Be Unable To Catch Up (望塵莫及)
Treat Each Other With Respect (相敬如賓)

U

Unclear And Able To Go Either Way (模稜兩可)
Utopia (世外桃源)

V

Very Intelligent in Youth (小時了了)

W

What is Said Carries Weight (一言為重)
When One's Forefinger Jumps (食指大動)
When The Map Was Unrolled, The Dagger Was Revealed (圖窮匕見)
Whoever Plays With Fire Will Get Burnt (玩火自焚)