Chinese Proverbs

"The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs." - Francis Bacon. Chinese proverbs are no exception – they too, as Bacon so rightly mused, reveal the essence of Chinese culture and history. Quite apart from its literal, or nominal meaning, a Chinese proverb often has a hidden if not a double meaning that may be ironic.

Because many of the most popular Chinese proverbs express distilled wisdom, they are as much in use today as when they were first coined. To help strangers to China better understand the implicit as well as the explicit meanings of Chinese proverbs, below is a collection of the most common Chinese proverbs and their complete English-language equivalences.

It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books
读(dú)万(wàn)卷(juàn)书(shū)不(bù)如(rú)行(xíng)万(wàn)里(lǐ)路(lù)  

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