5 Chinese Common Saying

“不到长城非好汉” “Bú dào zhǎng chéng fēi hǎo hàn ”

He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.

这句话里“非”的意思是“不是”，“好汉”的意思是“很厉害的人”“英雄”。这句话的意思是没有去过长城的人就不是英雄，常常用来比喻一种积极的精神，遇到困难，要努力想办法克服，解决了问题，那就是“好汉”。

In the saying “不到长城非好汉”, “非” means “not”, and “好汉” means“awesome person” or”hero”. The saying means that a person who has never been to the Great Wall is not a hero. As a metaphor for positive spirit, it defines a hero as one who tries hard and works out the problems he faces.

“早睡早起身体好” “Zǎo shuì zǎo qǐ shēn tǐ hǎo ”

Keeping early hours is good for your health.

这句话的意思是晚上早点儿睡觉，早上早点儿起床，这样对身体有好处。这句话告诉我们养成良好的作息习惯有利于身体健康。

“早睡早起身体好” literally means one will become healthy if he/she sleeps early at night and gets up early in the morning. It tells us that keeping a proper work-rest schedule is good for our health.

“饭后百步走，活到九十九” “Fàn hòu bǎi bù zǒu ，huó dào jiǔ shí jiǔ “

A walk after dinner makes one live to 99.

这句话的字面意思是吃完饭以后要走一百步，这样就可以活到九十九岁。现在人们常用这句话说明，吃饭以后要运动运动，身体才能健康。

The literal meaning of this saying “饭后百步走，活到九十九” is that a walk of 100 steps after each meal every day makes one live to 99 years old. Now it means it is good for health to do some exercise after a meal.

“茶好客常来” Chá hǎo kè cháng lái

Good tea attracts frequenters.

“茶好客常来”的意思是，如果茶很好喝，客人就会经常来。这句话常用来比喻主要东西好，顾客就会喜欢。

“茶好客常来” means “if the tea is good guests will often come”, used metaphorically to indicate that good stuff will surely be liked by customers.

“五十步笑百步” Wǔ shí bù xiào bǎi bù

The one who retreated 50 steps laughs at the one who retreated 100.

“五十步笑百步”这句话来源于中国古代的一个故事。从前有两个士兵，打仗失败往回跑，一个人跑了五十步，另一个跑了一百步，跑了无时不得就笑话跑了一百步的，说他胆小。其实两人都是逃跑，只是跑得远近不同。这句话用来批评那些跟别人有一样的缺点，却因程度轻二笑话别人的人。

“五十步笑百步” originates from a story of ancient China. There were two soldiers who fled from a lost battle. One had run 50 steps backward, and the other 100 steps. The one who had retreated 50 steps laughed at the one who had retreated 100 steps, saying he was a coward. The truth is both of them were running away, the only difference lies in how far they’d run. “五十步笑百步” is now used metaphorically to criticize people who have the same problems as those they laugh at, only to a lesser degree.

Chinese is very easy to learn, Want to know more, check out on our other posts to learn more.

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