By Yang Yang.
Chengyu (“Chinese idioms” or “Four-Character Idioms”) are a special form of Chinese idioms, consisting of exactly 4 characters, which are derived from ancient literature. They are quite extensively used in the Chinese langauge and in a way can be compared to morale messages in Aesoph’s fables.
If you are a beginner of Mandarin, Chengyu can be a little hard to understand. It’s natural, because characters used in them are often very rare and the grammar of Chengyu is Classical Chinese grammar. It is not necessary for a beginner to know any Chengyu, but they are used quite frequently by native speakers both in writing and speaking and knowing a few later will be very helpful.
The stories behind the two Chengyu we picked for this article are quite interesting we think, and are happy to share them with you.
Old man loses a horse
塞翁失马
English equivalent: Blessing in disguise
塞 sài - border
翁 wēng - old man
失 shī - to lose
马 mǎ - horse
马 mǎ - horse
Note: Since Chengyu are written in a very old language, some characters have different meanings than they have today.
An old man lived with his only son at the border of the country. They kept horses but, one day, a horse went missing, having crossed over the border.
The old man was not bothered by the loss and, a few months later, however, not only did the missing horse return home safely, but it also brought back another horse from the neighboring country.
