Chinese Idioms or Cheng yu are short sayings usually consisting of four characters. More often than not a literary translation will shed little light on the true meaning. Many Cheng Yu are like short hand for an entire concept as illustrated by an ancient story. Unless you know the story and its common usage of the associated Cheng yu it will sound like random nonsense.

Cheng yu can be a powerful way to communicate with Chinese people because they are where language and culture and tied tightly together.

The power of the Chung yu is that all educated Chinese know thousands of these and the simple statement of four characters can bring deep and profound understanding of a complex feeling.

In English we have same similar idioms