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List of Chinese proverbs
[[fr:Proverbes chinois]]

These are the humble beginnings of a collection of [[China|Chinese]] [[Proverb|proverbs]] (&#27463;&#24460;&#35486; in [[pinyin]]: xie4 hou4 yu3; &#35578;&#35486; yan4 yu3) and idioms, given in (and sorted by) [[pinyin]] transcription. Formulaic saying/expression (&#25104;&#35486; cheng2 yu3) is the Chinese equivalent of the Japanese [[four-character idiom]].  

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==[[Mandarin Chinese |Mandarin]] proverbs==

The following proverbs are sorted alphabetically by their [[pinyin]].  If you know the literary source, please add it!  Also add other pronunciations if you know them.

:&#30334;&#19990;&#20462;&#26469;&#21516;&#33337;&#28193;&#65292;&#21315;&#36733;&#20462;&#24471;&#20849;&#26517;&#30496; (pinyin: b
enai3 shi4 xiu1 lai2 tong2 chuan2 du4, qian1 zai4 xiu1 de gong4 zhen3 mian2)
:* Literally: It takes hundreds of [[reincarnation]]s to bring two persons to ride on the same [[boat]]; it takes a thousand eons to bring two persons to share the same pillow. 
:* Moral: It is fate and [[yuanfen]] that brings two persons together, value an encounter and treasure a relationship.
:* Note: These two phrases do not rhyme, but have parallel [[grammatical]] structure, i.e, [[subject]] to subject, [[verb]] to verb, etc.
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:&#19990;&#19978;&#26080;&#38590;&#20107;&#65292;&#21482;&#24597;&#26377;&#24515;&#20154; (pinyin: shi4 shang4 you3 nan2 shi4 zhi3 pa4 you3 xing1 ren2)
:* Literally: On this world there exists no such impossible tasks, they fear only those with perseverance.
:* Moral: No task in this world is impossible so long as there are willing hearts.



⏎

⏎
:&#26641;&#20498;&#29474;&#29426;&#25955; (pinyin: shu4 dao3 hu2 sun1 san4)
:* Literally: when a tree falls, the monkeys scatter.
:* Usage: When a leader loses power, his followers become disorganized. This proverb is anti-[[anarchistic]].

:&#27700;&#33021;&#36733;&#33311;&#20134;&#33021;&#35206;&#33311; (pinyin: shui3 neng2 zai4 zhou1, yi4 neng2 fu4 zhou1)
:* Literally: Not only can [[water]] can float a craft, it can sink it also.
(contracted; show full)* [[English proverbs]]
* [[French proverbs]]
* [[German proverbs]]
* [[Japanese proverbs]]
* [[Latin proverbs]]
* [[Polish proverbs]]
* [[Portuguese proverbs]]
* [[Spanish proverbs]]