Chinese idiom story 19 螳臂当车 tánɡ lánɡ dǎnɡ chē

Learning Chinese idioms is an essential part of learning Chinese culture. Learning an idiom story every day will greatly improve your Chinese level.

Idiom  螳臂当车 tánɡ lánɡ dǎnɡ chē



Explain  an ambitious attempt without a sense of one's pitiable limitation



Story background



The Duke of Qi Zhuang took the carriage to the countryside to hunt, and saw a bug on the road, holding his front foot straight at the wheel of the carriage. Qi Zhuang Gong felt very strange, asked the driver said :" What is this bug ?" The driver replied ," This is the mantis. The worm only knows to advance, not to retreat; not to estimate its strength, but to attack the enemy ." Qi Zhuang said ," it's amazing. If he had become a man, he must be the bravest man in the world. Don't run him over ."

The driver hurriedly pulled the horse's head around the mantis. This incident spread, the world's warriors heard that Qi Zhuang Gong to a brave mantis still so cherish, all ran to Qi, willing to work for Qi Zhuang Gong.



This is the story of mantis. "Mantis arm when the car" is usually used to describe someone "out of control ", delusion to block the power of great progress, is not as praise as Qi Zhuang.


By using the Chinese idiom stories of both Chinese and English to expand our Chinese Beihaimandarin Reading Material , you can also read more Chinese materials through Beihai Chinese Vblog to further improve your Chinese hearing level.


Edited by Baoyang from Shanghai Beihaimandarin



                                                                                                     螳臂当车 tánɡ lánɡ dǎnɡ chē

   齐庄公乘着马车到郊外去打猎，看见路上有一只小虫，高举着前脚向马车的轮子直扑过来。齐庄公觉得很奇怪，问赶车的说：“这是什么虫子呀？”赶车的回答说：“这就是螳螂。

这种虫只知道前进，不知道后退；不自己估计一下力量，只知道攻击敌人。”齐庄公说：“真了不起。要是他变成了人，一定是天下最勇敢的人了。你不要辗死他。”赶车的急忙拉

转马头，让车绕过了螳螂。这件事传了开去，天下的勇士听说齐庄公对一只勇敢的螳螂尚且这样爱惜，都跑到齐国去，愿意为齐庄公出力。

  “螳臂当车”就是从这个故事来的。“螳臂当车”通常用来比喻有人“不自量力”，妄想阻挡巨大的进步的力量，并不是齐庄公那样有赞美的意思。