Be
There Just to Increase the Number
| Characters: |
 |
Pronunciation:
lan(4) yu(2) chong(1) shu(4)
Explanation:
A metaphor to say an unfit person tries to
pretend he/she is capable of something great,
or inferior goods pretending to be qualified
goods
Tone: Negative
The Story: In the Qi
Kingdom, King Xun Wang liked listening to
the Yu flute. His performance team was comprised
of 300 people, and he often ordered them to
play together. A man named Nan Guo who knew
nothing about the flute learned of this, he
took it as a good chance to make some money.
He applied to join the group of musicians
and soon became a member of the team. Every
time, when they played for the King, he put
his mouth on the Yu flute and pretended he
was a good performer. Time went by, and no
one discovered it. And of course, he got a
very good salary during this period.
King Xun Wang soon died and
his son King Min Wang came to the throne.
He preferred listening to solo performances
of the Yu flute instead of group performances.
When Mr. Nan Guo heard of this, he had to
leave the troupe.
Usage Example (Pinyin):
Wo(3) men(2) bu(4) xu(1) yao(4) yi(1) ge(4)
lan(4) yu(2) chong(1) shu(4) de lao(3) shi(1).
Usage Example (English
translation): We do not need a teacher
who is "there just to increase the number"
teacher.
Note: The spoken Chinese
Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have
attempted to re-create those above where after
each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or
(4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones.
We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com
Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline
study program.
