Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (2024)

Proverbs and idioms reflect cultural belief systems. As a result, Chinese proverbs and idioms about family are a great way to gain insight into historical and modern Chinese values.

In this article, we'll first explore Chinese attitudes towards the family. Then, we'll examine 12 Chinese proverbs and idioms about family and consider how they reflect traditional cultural attitudes.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (1)

Table of Contents

  • Proverbs and idioms: A cross-cultural phenomenon
  • Traditional conceptions of the Chinese family
    • Filial piety and the Confucian hierarchy
    • Close family bonds
  • Lineages, descent lines and clans
    • Lineages
    • Descent lines
    • Clans or same-surname associations
  • Family words
  • Men and women
    • Traditional gender roles
    • Gender roles in today's China
  • Chinese proverbs and idioms about family
    • Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family: Familial Relationships
    • Chinese proverbs and idioms about family: property and secrets
    • Chinese proverbs and idioms about family: marriage
  • Chinese vocabulary, idioms and proverbs about family

Proverbs and idioms: A cross-cultural phenomenon

Proverbs and idioms reflect society’s values. Each civilization encodes its collective wisdom and prejudices into figures of speech, stories and easily remembered phrases.

Familiar English-language proverbs and idiomatic phrases touch on everything from health and hygiene (“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”) to psychology (“Great minds think alike”) and morality (“Turn the other cheek”).

China’s millenia-old civilization has also produced a wealth of proverbs and sayings. Family is a central pillar of Chinese culture, so it should come as no surprise that many Chinese proverbs and idioms revolve around this important subject.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (2)

Family is the central pillar of Chinese culture, both ancient and modern.

Traditional conceptions of the Chinese family

Confucius (孔子 Kǒngzǐ) is a thinker whose ideas are essential to understanding the ongoing importance of the family in Chinese society. Indeed, Confucian principles governing how each person is bound by obligations to others are at the heart of the Chinese worldview.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (3)

Confucius (孔子 kǒng zǐ) taught that harmonious family relationships were key to building a prosperous society.

Filial piety and the Confucian hierarchy

Confucianism's central obligation is filial piety (孝顺 xiàoshùn). Perhaps more accurately translated as “filial subordination,” it hinges on the virtue of obeying one’s parents and elders. Indeed, the Chinese principle human relationships (father-son, husband-wife, ruler-subject) stem from this core parent-child relationship.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (4)

The Confucian hierarchy emphasizes the importance of families harmoniously ruled by benevolent elder patriarchs. Such families traditionally served as the basis for every other social and political relationship.

In fact, people judged every aspect of the world, or 天下 (tiānxià), by whether it conformed to or violated these familial principles. Members of ancient Chinese society also used Confucian principles to decide what was right or wrong, virtuous or immoral, just or unjust, beautiful or ugly, and brave or cowardly.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (5)

The teachings of Confucius had a wide-ranging impact on almost every aspect of ancient Chinese society.

Close family bonds

For thousands of years, two key factors fostered extremely close family bonds. One was the Chinese collective household system, which integrated different married couples into the same family. The other was the custom of multiple generations living under the same roof. Because of this practice, cousins grew up together as siblings. Indeed, people considered children primarily as members of the same age-group or generation rather than as offspring of particular parents.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (6)

Maintaining a close bond with members of one's extended family remains extremely important in modern China.

The children of these households learned to navigate and explore the world under the watchful eye of many older family members. The heavy demands of rural agricultural-based economic life further pressed these extended families into tight cooperative units.

Lineages, descent lines and clans

Chinese culture places strong emphasis on the family and on reverence for ancestors. This is demonstrated by the many ways one can express one’s relationship with one’s relatives, both living and dead.

Lineages

A lineage organization is a group of descendants who have collectively organized for the purposes of recording their genealogy and ritually worshipping or commemorating their ancestors. The size and scope of lineage organizations varies enormously and often depends on the wealth and prestige of individual members.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (8)

Large family get-togethers are a common occurrence in traditional Chinese villages.

Wealthy lineages sometimes collectively own an ancestral hallor shrine. There, descendants can come to worship ancestors and consult spirit tablets. Some well-endowed lineage organizations award scholarships and engage in charitable work. Some even act as emergency banks where members can gain access to loans during times of financial instability.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (9)

Ancestral halls are a common sight throughout rural China.

Some poorer lineage organizations simply have a place, sometimes in a designated room of an ancestral home, to honor the ancestors on important holidays (such as Tomb-Sweeping Day or Ghost Festival). Ceremonies to honor the ancestors usually involve making symbolic food offerings, burning joss paper and lighting fragrant incense.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (10)

Descendants frequently leave offerings of food for their ancestors.

Descent lines

A descent line consists of all the fathers and sons in one’s family tree. It goes back to the beginning of time, starting with the first father who founded the line. As long as one continues to produce male heirs, the descent line will continue indefinitely.

If one doesn't have a son, it's possible for a line to die out. Confucian society considered not bearing a male heir to be one of the worst things imaginable. This was because it also meant, in Chinese tradition, that no one could make sacrifices to ancestors or maintain the ancestral hall.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (11)

Traditionally, most Chinese families kept descent line records like this one.

Clans or same-surname associations

Clan and same-surname associations either in China or overseas are broader and looser coalitions of individuals who share an ancestor. Members of these groups generally lack a clear understanding of the specifics of their collective descent relationship. In the absence of clear records, sharing the same last name is an important part of these groups.

These “same-surname associations” (同姓会 tóngxìnghuì) often served—and continue to serve—as sources of mutual-aid and mutual protection. Worship of the collective ancestor still occurs. However, the absence of reliable records like spirit tablets or other genealogies hinders the practice of many traditional rituals.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (12)

Burning joss sticks is another common way to honor one's ancestors.

Family words

The importance of the family can also be detected through language. Consider, for example, the existence of many family-related Chinese words that contain the character 家 (jiā):

  • 大家 (dàjiā); everybody (literally “big family”)
  • 国家 (guójiā); country (literally “national family)
  • 家具 (jiājù,); furniture (literally “national family", or "household tool")

The Western nuclear family consists of one father and one mother raising their children. The traditional Chinese extended family, by contrast, consists of grandparents, unmarried aunts, uncles, married sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This way of life produced an astoundingly rich vocabulary to define, differentiate and describe relations between family members.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (13)

Due to the importance of family in traditional Chinese culture, there are many family-related words in Chinese.

The oldest known dictionary of the Chinese language, the Erh-ya (尔雅 Ěryǎ), contains a mind-boggling 2,000 terms for family relations. Due to the rapid contraction of the family as a consequence of the one-child policy (1979-2015), many of these words have fallen into disuse. However, contemporary Chinese still employs dozens of unique relationship words, many of which don’t exist in Western languages. For example:

  • 表哥 (biǎogē); older male cousin
  • 弟媳 (dìxí); younger brother's wife
  • 姨父 (yífu); mother’s sister’s husband

Men and women

As one might expect, the relationship between men and women in China has changed a lot over the years.

Traditional gender roles

Men's traditional role in the family was that of provider, maintainer and protector. Historically, Confucian and Daoist customs, patriarchal cultural beliefs and the exclusion of women from economic and educational spheres all combined to elevate the importance of men and minimize the importance of women. This phenomenon is referred to as 重男轻女 zhòngnán-qīngnǚ in Chinese.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (14)

Traditional Chinese society was governed by strict gender roles rooted in Confucian teachings.

Throughout much of Chinese history, women were primarily seen in light of their ability to produce male heirs who would maintain the descent line, thereby pleasing the ancestors. In fact, the term for “good” in Chinese is 好 (hǎo), which is the character for female (女 nǚ) set alongside the character for a male child (子 zi).

This belief in women’s inferiority compared to men is the source of several sayings still in use today, such as 男尊女卑 (nánzūn-nǚbēi). Translated literally, this saying reads “men are high, women low.” It means “women are inferior to men.”

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (15)

In traditional Confucian society, women had little autonomy outside the home.

When not pregnant or giving birth, Confucian society expected women to focus their energies on homelife and childrearing. The Confucian doctrine of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues (三从四德 Sāncóng Sìdé) laid out strict rules for women. While at home, society expected women to follow their fathers. Upon marriage, the Confucians expected women to follow their husbands, and after marriage, their sons.

Contemporary people referred to this custom with the following saying: 在家从父, 出家从夫, 婚后从子 zàijiācóngfù, chūjiàcóngfū, hūnhòucóngzǐ).

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (16)

Chinese women's lives have undergone vast changes in recent years.

In all arenas and at all stages of life, Confucian society required women to allow their male counterparts—fathers, husbands and sons—to take on responsibility for most aspects of their lives. Despite these strict Confucian norms, in practice many women did in fact take up positions of power. One, Wu Zetian, even assumed the most powerful position in the land, becoming emperor in her own right.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (17)

Emperor Wu Zetian was China's first and only female emperor.

Gender roles in today's China

China’s rollercoaster of a 20th century shattered many of these historical patterns and radically reshaped many others. While there are enormous differences between conditions in urban and rural areas, since 1949 Chinese women as a whole have become much more educated, independent and integrated into the workforce (although they're still substantially underrepresented when it comes to business and political leadership positions).

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (18)

Communist propaganda posters encouraging women to take pride in helping China modernize through manual labor were once a common sight.

21st century Chinese society continues to change and transform. China’s megacities are fast producing their own updated expectations for men and women, while the influx of tens of millions of migrant workers from rural areas often reinforces older relationship models.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (19)

Modern Chinese women have made great strides in the workplace.

As is the case with all nations, but perhaps more so in China due to the length and continuity of its history, modernity and tradition have yet to achieve a stable balance—it remains a give and take between past and present. Women continue to assume unprecedented positions of power. At the same time, however, traditional beliefs continue to influence which options and opportunities are—and are not—available.

Chinese proverbs and idioms about family

The proverbs and idioms below reflect the historical centrality of the family to Chinese cultural life, and they also indicate just how multidimensional this notion is.

Some sayings, particularly those expressing intimacy and support of family relationships, will find a place in the hearts of modern readers. Other proverbs and idioms, particularly those relating to the plight of women and the conditions of marriage, will perhaps make the modern reader uncomfortable.

History is sometimes wonderful, sometimes terrible and always complicated, and Chinese history is no different. These proverbs and idioms record China’s evolving attitudes towards the family.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (20)

Paying respect to one's ancestors is an important part of Chinese culture.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family: Familial Relationships

国无二君,家无二主 (guówú'èrjūn, jiāwú'èrzhǔ)

A state cannot have two monarchs or a family two heads.

前人栽树,后人乘凉 (qiánrénzāishù, hòurénchéngliáng)

The predecessors plant the tree, the descendants cool off in the shade.

树高千丈,落叶归根 (shùgāoqiānzhàng, luòyèguīgēn)

A tree can grow 10 thousand feet tall but its leaves will always fall back to the roots.

Note: This proverb was often used in situations where someone had been exiled or engaged in long years of travel. It was used to mean that even though a person might live for many years away from home, he or she would eventually return to his or her native soil.

虎父虎子 (hǔfùhǔzǐ)

If the father is a tiger, then the son will also be a tiger.

Note: This is a Chinese proverb that is equivalent to Western sayings such as “like father like son” or “the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.”

姥姥家的狗,吃完了就走 (lǎolao jiā de gǒu, chīwánle jiù zǒu)

Grandma’s dog leaves as soon as it’s finished eating.

Note: This proverb is usually used by grandparents when playfully talking about their grandkid’s visits.

当麻烦来临,家人会给予你支持 (dàng máfan láilín, jiārén huì gěiyú nǐ zhīchí)

During difficult times, it's your family that supports you.

Chinese proverbs and idioms about family: property and secrets

家有敝帚,享之千金 (jiāyǒubìzhǒu, xiǎnɡzhīqiānjīn)

Be thankful for a bad broom as if it were a thousand ounces of gold.

Note: This proverb suggests that even if something is of little value, if it's your property you should cherish it.

家家有本难念的经 (jiājiā yǒu běn nánniàn de jīnɡ)

There's a skeleton in every house.

Chinese proverbs and idioms about family: marriage

出门看天色,进门看脸色 (chūmén kàn tiānsè, jìnmén kàn liǎnsè)

When you go out, observe the color of the sky, when you come in, observe the facial expressions (of your family members).

Note: This was proverbial advice given to newly married women.

儿多母苦,盐多菜苦 (erduōmǔkǔ, yánduōcàikǔ)

Just as too much salt makes food taste bad, too many children make a mother’s life hard.

嫁鸡随鸡,嫁狗随狗 (jiàjīsuíjī, jiàgŏusuígŏu)

Marry a chicken, follow a chicken; marry a dog, follow a dog.

Note: This proverb, and the one that follows, demonstrate the playful and strategic approach that many Chinese women took to navigating their relative powerlessness when it came to marriage.

家寒嫁汉,穿衣吃饭 (jiāhánjiàhàn, chuānyīchīfàn)

If the house is cold then marry a man, you'll have clothes to wear and rice to eat.

Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (21)

Chinese people still frequently use traditional proverbs in everyday conversation.

Want to learn even more about Chinese proverbs and the Chinese language? Find out how CLI’s program options can greatly enhance your understanding of Chinese language and culture, and check out this article on the Anatomy of Chinese Characters! We look forward to welcoming you to Guilin.

Chinese vocabulary, idioms and proverbs about family

HànzìPīnyīnDefinition
孝顺xiàoshùnfillial piety
天下tiānxiàland under heaven; the world or China
同姓会tóngxìnghuìsame-surname association
jiāhome
大家dàjiāeveryone
国家guójiācountry; nation
家具jiājùfurniture
表哥biǎogēolder male cousin; older male cousin on the female side
妗子jìnzimother's brother's wife
姨父yífumother's sister's husband
男尊女卑nánzūn, nǚbēiwomen are inferior to men
三从四德Sāncóng Sìdéthree obediences and four virtues (Confucian code of ethics for women)
国无二君,家无二主guówú'èrjūn, jiāwú'èrzhǔA state cannot have two monarchs or a family two heads.
出门看天色,进门看脸色chūmén kàn tiānsè, jìnmén kàn liǎnsèWhen you go out, observe the color of the sky, when you come in, observe the facial expressions (of your family members).
前人栽树,后人乘凉qiánrénzāishù, hòurénchéngliángThe predecessors plant the tree, the descendents cool off in the shade.
树高千丈,落叶归根shùgāoqiānzhàng, luòyèguīgēnA tree can grow 10 thousand feet tall but its leaves will always fall back to the roots.
儿多母苦,盐多菜苦erduōmǔkǔ, yánduōcàikǔJust as too much salt makes food taste bad, too many children make a mother’s life hard.
虎父虎子hǔfùhǔzǐIf the father is a tiger, then the son will also be a tiger.
姥姥家的狗,吃完了就走lǎolao jiā de gǒu chīwánle jiù zǒuGrandma’s dog leaves as soon as it’s finished eating.
家有敝帚,享之千金jiāyǒubìzhǒu, xiǎnɡzhīqiānjīnBe thankful for a bad broom as if it were a thousand ounces of gold.
家家有本难念的经jiājiā yǒu běn nánniàn de jīnɡThere is a skeleton in every house.
当麻烦来临,家人会给予你支持dàng máfan láilín , jiārén huì gěiyú nǐ zhīchíDuring difficult times, it's your family that supports you.
嫁鸡随鸡,嫁狗随狗jiàjīsuíjī, jiàgŏusuígŏuMarry a chicken, follow a chicken; marry a dog, follow a dog.
家寒嫁汉,穿衣吃饭jiāhánjiàhàn, chuānyīchīfànIf the house is cold then marry a man, you'll have clothes to wear and rice to eat.
Chinese Proverbs and Idioms About Family | Chinese Language Institute (2024)

FAQs

What are famous Chinese proverbs? ›

Top 10 Most Famous Chinese Proverbs in English (BEST)
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14 Nov 2022

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22 Jan 2021

What are Chinese proverbs called? ›

They're used to offer wisdom or advice in a nutshell, and they can be fun, powerful, or even life-changing if you ponder over them. Chinese proverbs are called 谚语 (yànyŭ) in Chinese.

How many Chinese proverbs are there? ›

He observed that the proverbs themselves are numerous, with the whole of China probably able to supply some 20,000, a figure that modern scholars agree with.

What are most famous proverbs? ›

22 English proverb examples
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20 Jun 2022

What is the most famous line? ›

Famous Movie Quotes
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21 Sept 2018

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Here are 20 English idioms that everyone should know:
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What does Hao Xiao mean? ›

hao xiao : laughable, funn... : hǎo xiào | Definition | Mandarin Chinese Pinyin English Dictionary | Yabla Chinese.

What does Da Jiao Hao mean? ›

When greeting a large group of. people, we say: 大家好! Da jia hao! The dictionary will tell you it means 'Hello everyone!'

What is the hardest Chinese word to say? ›

Ok, let's get started!
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What does Po Po mean in Chinese? ›

Search with English, Pinyin, or Chinese characters. 婆婆 pó po. husband's mother mother-in-law grandma.

What is the idiom of China? ›

slang One's close friend. The term comes from rhyming slang in which "china" is short for "china plate," which rhymes with "mate." Primarily heard in UK, Australia. Bring your china to the show then—the more, the merrier. It's always great to spend time with my old china.

What is a Chinese proverb for patience? ›

Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown. Gold cannot be pure, and people cannot be perfect. If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

How old are Chinese proverbs? ›

"In their 4,000-year civilized history, the Chinese have generated innumerable proverbs.

What are 10 good quotes? ›

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What is the 10 examples of proverbs? ›

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What is the best quote about family? ›

Short Quotes
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13 Oct 2022

What are 2 inspirational quotes? ›

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24 May 2022

What are the 100 idioms? ›

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15 Jul 2022

What are the 100 idiomatic expressions? ›

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What is Xiao Mei mean? ›

What is a Xiao Mei Mei? Xiao Mei Mei (小妹妹), abbreviated as XMM, is a Mandarin phrase that directly translates to 'little sister' and is used when talking about a certain type of Singaporean girl.

What does Ding Hao? ›

On the nose was painted a phrase he had picked up while flying with the Flying Tigers — “Ding Hao!” — fittingly, it roughly translates as “Top Good” or “The Best”. Arguably one of the most famous airplanes that fought in the European Theater, Col. James H. Howard's North American P-51B Mustang “Ding Hao!”

What is bu hao? ›

不好 : no good... : bù hǎo | Definition | Mandarin Chinese Pinyin English Dictionary | Yabla Chinese.

What does Luo Zi mean? ›

羅茲 Luó zī Łódź, third largest city of Poland.

What does Xiawu Hao mean? ›

下午好 (Xiawu hao) meaning Good afternoon☺️☺️

What does Jibai mean in Chinese? ›

祭拜 jì bài. to offer sacrifice (to one's ancestors)

What is the T word in China? ›

Chinese respelling of the English alphabet
LetterSpelling 1Spelling 2
S艾斯àisī
T
Uyīwú
Vwéi
22 more rows

What does Sha Zi mean in Chinese? ›

Search with English, Pinyin, or Chinese characters. 傻子 shǎ zi. idiot fool. Example Usage.

What does Tu Pian mean in Chinese? ›

图片 Trad. 圖片 tú piàn. image picture photograph CL:張|张[zhang1]

What does Bo Bo mean in Chinese? ›

Search with English, Pinyin, or Chinese characters. 伯伯 bó bo. father's elder brother uncle.

What does nai nai mean in Chinese? ›

Juliet Nai nai (奶奶) is the Chinese word for grandma, and it specifies to your father's mother.

What is Ah Ma in Chinese? ›

In Chinese, amah ("grandmother") is often used as an equivalent of the English word "nanny"—the term does not refer to a wet nurse or a servant, but rather a "friend" who helps a family to raise a child. This is a common occupation in China.

What are the 5 most common idioms? ›

Five idioms every English student should know
  • Get your act together (Meaning: you need to improve your behaviour/work) ...
  • Pull yourself together (Meaning: calm down) ...
  • I'm feeling under the weather (Meaning: I'm sick) ...
  • It's a piece of cake (Meaning: it's easy) ...
  • Break a leg (Meaning: good luck!)
2 Feb 2018

What is the most famous idiom? ›

The most common English idioms
IdiomMeaning
Beat around the bushAvoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable
Better late than neverBetter to arrive late than not to come at all
Bite the bulletTo get something over with because it is inevitable
Break a legGood luck
33 more rows

What are the 3 types of idioms? ›

According to Palmer in his book: Semantic: A New Outline (1976), idioms could be divided into three types: phrasal verb, prepositional verb, and partial idiom.

What are the five Chinese blessing? ›

Chinese culture: five blessings, also known as the "Five Happiness" or "Five Good Fortunes", which refer to longevity, wealth, health and composure, love of virtue, and the desire to die a natural death in old age (or timely death).

How do you express happiness in Chinese? ›

快乐 (kuàilè)

快乐can be used to mean happy (adj) or happiness (noun). It generally relates to happiness of a longer duration than 高兴and开心. For example, 快乐is often used to wish someone happiness on special occasions, the implication being that it is a sustained state. Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè!

What is the Chinese proverb about revenge? ›

But afterwards, he said, quoting a Chinese proverb: “He who seeks revenge digs two graves.” In the Stork: “Before you seek Revenge with someone be sure and dig two graves.”

Are Chinese proverbs real? ›

Most Chinese proverbs originate from famous Chinese writers and philosophers, such as Confucius and Lao Tzu. Although most Chinese proverbs were penned hundreds – or indeed thousands – of years ago, there are many hundreds of Chinese proverbs still in popular usage across the country today.

What is China's oldest book? ›

Excerpt. The yh-king, the first in rank of the canonical books of China, was the result of a transformation in the twelfth cen tury of an older work made of documents very ancient in date, and which entitles it to be called the Oldest book of the Chinese.

What is the oldest text in China? ›

The oldest known Chinese writing has been found on animal bones — known as oracle bones — dating to 3,600 years ago during the Shang dynasty.

Does China have a word for love? ›

“Love” in Chinese

The Chinese character for “love” is 爱 (ài) and is mostly used to express romantic feelings for another person. 爱 (ài) can mean “love” for your family member, too.

Why are Chinese idioms important? ›

Chinese idioms can also serve as a guide through Chinese culture. In addition to the fact that behind most idioms exists an interesting tale, Chinese idioms also teach us about motifs that were common in Chinese ancient literature and about historical cultural customs.

What is the most common Chinese greeting? ›

nǐ hǎo; The standard "hello" greeting. Literally means "you good." 您好。 nín hǎo; The same "hello" greeting as above, except that 您 (nín), like in many European languages, is the polite form of "you", used when addressing elders, or teachers etc.

What are 10 most famous Confucius quotes? ›

Top 10 Confucius Quotes
  • “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
  • “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
  • “I hear and I forget. ...
  • “If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. ...
  • “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

What is the old Chinese proverb? ›

A fall into a ditch makes you wiser. Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one. He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.

What does Confucius say about family? ›

Cherishing the family and marriage is the core value of Confucian society. One of the principles of Confucianism is that "a man should alienate the king for his parents' sake, but never alienate parents for the king." Confucianism also advocates "big families, small government."

What are 4 Confucius quotes? ›

Confucius Famous Quotes
  • “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” ...
  • “Virtue is not left to stand alone. ...
  • “To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage, or of principle.” ...
  • “The object of the superior man is truth.” ...
  • “When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

What are famous sayings? ›

Quotes by Famous People
  • The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. - ...
  • The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. - ...
  • Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. ...
  • If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor. -
2 Nov 2022

What are the Chinese blessings? ›

Chinese culture: five blessings, also known as the "Five Happiness" or "Five Good Fortunes", which refer to longevity, wealth, health and composure, love of virtue, and the desire to die a natural death in old age (or timely death).

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