Be There Just to Increase the Number

Characters:

Pronunciation: bai(3) fa(1) bai(3) zhong(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, and so 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.