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Idiomatic expressions in Chinese The English language contains many common quotes, sayings, aphorisms and other idiomatic expressions of different sorts. In the Chinese language such expressions are most commonly referred to as "chengyu", i.e. "ready phrases".
The chengyu can be divided into sub-groups such as true chengyu, proverbs, aphorisms and "after-the-pause expressions". Sometimes common expressions and freer quotes are included among chengyu, but rarely mere metaphors, slogans or modern slang. True chengyu usually consist of four characters that can be seen as titles of centuries old classical stories, hearsays or historical recordings. In this glossary I've include expressions of most of the mentioned categories of chengyu.
Chinese idioms often appear to be written with a special type of compressed grammar, and may therefore be difficult to interpret. However, it's one thing to learn to understand these expressions in Chinese text, but a completely different thing to learn to actively use them in your own phrases. If you don't have the knowledge of a large number of Chinese idioms (and preferably the stories behind them!), it can be difficult to spontaneously find suitable expressions for different occasions. My intention with this glossary is to help solving this problem for students of Chinese - or at least to open a door for those who want to become more fluent in Chinese.
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