Excellent Stratagems in A Silk Bag

Characters:

Pronunciation: jin(3) nang(2) miao(4) ji(4)

Explanation: Said of some ideas or solutions that help overcome problems

Tone: Positive

The Story: In the Three-Kingdoms Period, in order to capture the Jing Zhou area, General Zhou Yu of Wu set a trap. He suggested his king pretend to send a proposal to Shu's King, Liu Bei. In the message he said that they would marry the King's sister to him. In that case, Liu Bei would come to Wu to take his bride away, and Wu would take this chance to detain him. Then Wu would use Liu Bei as a hostage in exchange for the Jing Zhou area.

When Shu received this proposal, their military counselor Zhuge Liang saw through it, so he suggested Liu Bei make a new trap based on the first one. So Liu Bei went to Wu for his bride in the company of Zhao Yun, one of his bravest generals. Before they set off, Zhuge Liang called Zhao Yun and gave him a silk bag, "For this trip to protect our king, I have three stratagems for you in this bag, keep it with you and open it at the right time."

When they arrived at Wu, Zhao Yun opened the silk bag and acted according to the three stratagems. At last, Liu Bei avoided the problem of being a hostage and still was able to marry Wu's princess. Wu's king cried for his sister and General Zhou Yu was blamed for the whole mess!

Usage Example (Pinyin): Ni(3) de zhu(3) yi(3) dui(4) wo(3) men(3) lai(2) shuo(1) shi(4) jin(3) nang(2) miao(4) ji(4).

Usage Example (English translation): Your idea is an excellent stratagem in a silk bag to us.

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.