Kill First, Report Later

Characters:

Pronunciation: xian(1) zhan(3) hou(4) zou(4)
Explanation: Used to describe an underling completing a task and then reporting the results to a superior

Tone: Neutral

The Story: In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Xuan was appointed to be the governor of Luo Yang. At his first day's accession, he found a difficult case. The king's sister, princess Hu Yang, had an evil servant who had killed a person. But as he was the servant of the princess, so no one dared to punish him.

One day, Princess Hu Yang went out with the servant accompanying her. Dong Xuan ordered his men to catch him and execute him at once. The princess was furious. She went to the palace and asked the king to execute Dong Xuan.

Dong Xuan went to the palace and argued his case. After the king knew the story, he did not punish Dong Xuan at all.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Ni(3) ying(1) gai(1) rang(4) wo(3) zhi(1) dao(4), wo(3) bu(4) xi(3) huan(1) ni(3) xian(1) zhan(3) hou(4) zou(4) de zuo(4) feng(1).

Usage Example (English translation): You should have let me know first. I don't like your 'kill first, report later' style.

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.