A Match for Ten Thousand

Prowess worth ten thousand men — an individual so formidable they count as an army.

Attending the Meeting with a Single Blade

To walk into the enemy’s parley wearing a single blade — a bold, lone negotiation in the lion’s den, won by sheer nerve.

Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats

Borrowing the enemy’s arrows with straw-covered boats — turning an opponent’s own attack and resources to your advantage.

Captured Seven Times, Released Seven Times

To capture seven times and release seven times — winning submission of the heart, not just the body, through patient magnanimity.

Chicken Ribs

Like chicken ribs — too little meat to eat, too good to throw away — it describes something of marginal value you still can’t quite give up.

Dead Kongming Routs Living Zhongda

The dead Kongming put the living Zhongda to flight — a great figure’s reputation overpowers others even after death.

Eating Little, Toiling Much

Eating little while laboring much — working oneself into the ground. Used of someone whose workload is visibly consuming their health.

Everything Ready but the East Wind

All preparations complete — except the one decisive thing. Used when a single missing condition holds back everything.

Executing Ma Su in Tears

To punish even someone you cherish, in tears, for the sake of discipline and the greater cause — putting principle above personal affection.

Genius Within Seven Paces

The gift of composing a poem within seven paces — dazzling literary genius under pressure.

Lamenting the Fat on One’s Thighs

Grieving that one’s thighs have grown fat from too long out of the saddle — the anguish of years slipping by with one’s ambitions unfulfilled.

Like Fish and Water

A bond as inseparable as fish and water — a relationship where each is essential to the other.

Like Splitting Bamboo

Like bamboo that splits all the way down once the first joints crack — unstoppable momentum, victory after victory.

Never Without a Book in Hand

Never letting the book leave one’s hand — studying at every spare moment. High praise for a devoted reader or lifelong learner.

Opening the Gate to Bow the Thief In

To open your own gate and bow the robber in — inviting disaster through your own negligence at the very moment vigilance is needed.

Quenching Thirst with Dreamed Plums

Easing thirst by imagining plums — sustaining people through hardship with a vivid hope, or offering comfort that is only imaginary.

Rubbing One’s Eyes and Looking Again

Someone has improved so much you must rub your eyes and look again — dramatic growth in a short time.

Speed Is the Essence of War

In war, divine speed is the supreme virtue — strike before the enemy can prepare. Momentum and surprise decide everything.

The Brocade-Bag Stratagems

Miraculous plans sealed in a brocade bag — contingencies prepared in advance, to be opened at each crisis. The ultimate plan B.

The Empty Fort Strategy

Throwing open the gates of a defenseless city so the enemy suspects a trap and retreats — psychological warfare that hides weakness in plain sight.

The First-of-the-Month Review

From a famed critique session held on the first of each month — it now means the act of appraising people or works. The origin of "monthly review" in East Asian usage.

The Memorial on Marching Out

To declare one’s resolve before a great undertaking. "Submitting the chu-shi-biao" now means formally throwing your hat in the ring; the companion phrase jugong-jinchui means bending one’s body in utter devotion.

The Old A-Meng of Wu

Someone stuck exactly as they were — most often used in the negative: "no longer the old A-Meng," meaning utterly transformed.

The Peach Garden Oath

From the sworn brotherhood sealed in a peach orchard — a solemn pledge to share one purpose, through everything.

The Plan to Divide the Realm in Three

From Zhuge Liang’s grand strategy of splitting the realm into three, it means a sweeping master plan built on reading the whole board — securing your own base rather than fighting the strongest head-on.

The Self-Injury Ruse

A stratagem that sacrifices one’s own flesh to deceive the enemy — accepting real self-inflicted loss to sell the lie. Now used for any painful last-resort measure.

The White Eyebrows

The finest among many — the standout person or work in a group.

Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage

To court a talented person with utmost sincerity, visiting again and again. Today it describes going to great lengths to recruit someone or win them over.

Too Happy to Miss Shu

So content that one forgets one’s homeland — losing oneself in present comfort and forgetting who you are and where you came from.

Words Beyond One’s Deeds

Talk that outruns the substance — describing someone whose eloquence exceeds their real ability, or an inflated claim.