Chinese Proverbs Illustrated: The Wisdom of Cheng-Yu

This illustrated gift edition includes proverbs in both Chinese and English in a traditional Chinese binding.

The elegant pen strokes and visual harmony of Chinese writing have long been admired in the West. Classical Chinese calligraphy is a popular and valuable art form, and with the increasing economic and cultural power of China, its writing is becoming more widely appreciated and understood. In particular, the deep layers of history and symbolism that exist behind even the most everyday phrases have a strong appeal to those seeking understanding from an alternative philosophy. The sayings known as Cheng-yu, represented by four characters, are used frequently in Chinese. They are comparable to proverbs or idioms in English, but each adds a depth of meaning and linguistic color very unlike their English equivalents. Chinese Proverbs Illustrated features a selection of the most famous and most interesting of the more than 5,000 Cheng-yu. Alongside the phrase is an accessible and inspiring explanation, its literal translation in English, what the particular strokes symbolize, and its various uses, as well as more than 80 images to complement the text.

James Trapp is the author of Chinese Characters: The Art and Meaning of Hanzi and Chinese Proverbs: The Wisdom of Cheng-Yu, and he has translated a bestselling new multilingual edition of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. A Chinese language graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, he teaches Mandarin and was previously an education officer on the China Collection at the British Museum.