idiom

The Chinese idiom “playing the qin to a cow” describes the wasted effort of talking to someone who cannot or will not understand.

The Chinese idiom “力不從心” (lì bù cóng x?n) means “unable to do as one would wish,” or that one’s ability is not equal to one’s ambition. It came from a story about Ban Chao, which is recorded in the “Book of the Later Han” (1).

The Chinese idiom 濫竽充數 (làn yú chōng shù), literally “pretend to play the yu in order to make up the number,” is often translated as “be there just to make up the number.”

Literally, the saying means “the appearance is born of the heart”; however, the character 心 (xīn) is often used to indicate the mind or feeling.