The Chinese Sayings Podcast

By LASZLO MONTGOMERY

Education History

What's The Chinese Sayings Podcast about?

Join Laszlo Montgomery for bi-weekly episodes that introduce commonly used Chinese Sayings and the stories, history and rich meanings behind each phrase. Whether you speak Chinese or not, enjoy a few nice stories and pick up a new and useful phrase or two from China’s ancient times.

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S7E03 | We Swore Blood Brot...

01.29.2023

Who doesn't know this one? If you never read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" perhaps you might not know this one. In all the thousands of years of Chinese culture and history, this gem from Luo Guanzhong's novel is very ...

The Chinese Sayings Podcast episodes:

01.29.2023 S7E03 \| We Swore Blood Brothers Against the Wind Who doesn't know this one? If you never read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" perhaps you might not know this one. In all the thousands of years of Chinese culture and history, this gem from Luo Guanzhong's novel is very ...
01.15.2023 S7E02 \| What's the Rush? In this second installment of the 7th Season, Laszlo once refers to "The Mengzi" for this short tale of the foolish farmer who wasn't satisfied with nature's pace. This time we look at 揠苗助长 Yà Miáo Zhù Zhǎng. Let's face ...
01.01.2023 S7E01 \| Lips n' Teeth Happy New Year everyone!! We begin 2023 with a brand new season of The Chinese Sayings Podcast. For the Season 7 opener, we're going with another one that came straight from The Chronicles of Zuo: Chún Wáng Chǐ Hán 唇亡齿寒. ...
11.06.2022 S6E10 \| Putting out the Fire with Gasoline Once again, Warring States heavy, Han Feizi, pulls through for us with an excellent chengyu in this Season 6 closer. Bào Xīn Jiù Huǒ 抱薪救火. Sometimes you think you're helping...but all you're doing is making things worse. Our story goes ...
10.23.2022 S6E09 \| The Great Rejuvenation Here's another good chengyu that goes all the way back to the Zuo Zhuan, The Commentaries of Zuo Qiuming. The story takes place during the 6th century BC and concerns the Spring & Autumn Period states of Chu and Jin. ...
10.09.2022 S6E08 \| I Was Made to Love Her Here's another great one from the good old days of the Western Han Dynasty. Does the Book of Han deliver or what? If you like happy endings, this is one you'll enjoy. Two star-crossed lovers, one rich and one poor, ...
09.25.2022 S6E07 \| Tomorrow Never Knows Here's one that goes back all the way to the Huananzi 淮南子. And it's still used today. And quite often too. Sài wēng shī mǎ, yān zhī fēi fú 塞翁失马焉知非福. Eight characters that remind us sometimes you never know when ...
09.11.2022 S6E06 \| Looks Good On Paper This week's Chinese Saying is a well-worn one brought to us by none other than Sima Qian, the Grand Historian. Featured in this story are Lian Po, Zhao She, Zhao Kuo, Bai Qi and the whole Battle of Changping. This ...
08.28.2022 S6E05 \| The Comeback Kid This Chinese Saying for this time, 东山再起 Dōng Shān Zài Qǐ is a good one for any situation involving someone whose career everyone thought finished but who came back for one more great moment. This tale, taken from the Book ...
08.14.2022 S6E04 \| Sweating Buckets We've all been in this situation in our lives. Here's one for all seasons. Poor old Zhou Bo was caught ill-prepared when the emperor was grilling him. Enjoy this one, gifted to us by The Grand Historian himself, Sima Qian: ...
07.31.2022 S6E03 \| A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course The story behind today's Chinese Saying is an old favorite of all lovers of popular Chinese history. How can we forget Zhao Gao 赵高 from the Qin Dynasty and the famous story behind Zhǐ Lù Wéi Mǎ 指鹿为马. In our ...
07.17.2022 S6E02 \| Do As I Say, Not As I Do We're back with another good one, this time with a rare appearance of a twelve-character Chinese Saying. This one is perfect for our modern times. It' become a regular thing to see politicians, celebrities, and everyday people, talking the talk ...
07.17.2022 S6E02 \| Do As I Say, Not As I Do We're back with another good one, this time with a rare appearance of a twelve-character Chinese Saying. This one is perfect for our modern times. It' become a regular thing to see politicians, celebrities, and everyday people, talking the talk ...
07.03.2022 S6E01 \| That Darn Mulberry Tree! The CSP is back for another season. We're coming out of the starting gate nice and strong for the Sixth Season opener with one of the great all-time classics: Point at the Mulberry Tree and Scold the Locust Tree. Zhǐ ...
07.03.2022 S6E01 \| That Darn Mulberry Tree! The CSP is back for another season. We're coming out of the starting gate nice and strong for the Sixth Season opener with one of the great all-time classics: Point at the Mulberry Tree and Scold the Locust Tree. Zhǐ ...
06.05.2022 S5E10 \| Life is But a Dream For the Chinese Sayings Podcast Season 5 closer, we reach into the treasure box to bring you another useful and memorable Chinese chengyu. This time we tell the story of the Golden Millet Dream, the Huáng Liáng Měi Mèng 黄粱美梦. ...
05.22.2022 S5E09 \| You Asked For It! In this penultimate CSP episode for Season 5, we harken back to the Three Kingdoms Period, and the time of the two brothers Sun Ce and Sun Quan. When Sun Quan's lugubrious grieving over Sun Ce's unexpected and early passing ...
05.08.2022 S5E08 \| It Don't Mean a Thing For this latest CSP episode, we welcome China's great historian, Sima Qian to the stage where he plays in a starring role in this tragic story behind the well-known Chinese Saying Jiǔ Niú Yī Máo 九牛一毛. One hair from nine ...
04.24.2022 S5E07 \| Produced By The Gods Another good one from The Zhuangzi, the Second Book of the Dao. This idiom concerns a craftsman in Lu (southern Shandong Province) who was particularly masterful at carving these wooden stands that held ceremonial bells. So great was his workmanship, ...
04.10.2022 S5E06 \| Mom of the Millennia The Chengyu, Chinese Saying, for this time is one of the most well-known of all. This story is a staple when discussing the true meaning of a selfless mother who only lives for her children. This is the story of ...
03.27.2022 S5E05 \| Mr. Know-it-all Another staple from the "Greatest Chengyu of All-time" Box Set. The Frog at the Bottom of the Well, 井底之蛙 Jǐng Dǐ Zhī Wā. This one has a multitude of uses and comes to us straight from The Zhuangzi. This story ...
03.13.2022 S5E04 \| The Wood Man The CSP is back with another good one coming to us courtesy of the Book of Jin. 木人石心 Mù Rén Shí Xīn. This story features real-life historical person Jia Chong, a high-up official in the Jin Dynasty and a long-time ...
02.28.2022 S5E03 \| Be All That You Can Be The story behind this Chinese Saying is a great one from Chinese history. The story of Tóu Bǐ Cóng Róng 投笔从戎 revolves around the esteemed Ban Family of historians. The patriarch was Ban Biao who co-wrote the Book of Han. ...
02.13.2022 S5E02 \| It's Too Late Baby Another good one for you today from the golden age of chengyu's, The Warring States Period. This Chinese Sayings is taken from the Zuo Zhuan 左转 and concerns Duke Jing of the powerful State of Jin 晋景公. This gruesome story ...
02.01.2022 S5E01 \| Everything's Good We're back with another season of wonderful and useful chengyu's for your Chinese sayings repertoire. Everyone knows this one. Well, maybe not everyone but it's pretty well-known. We ended last season in the Later Han Dynasty and that's where we'll ...
12.19.2021 S4E10 \| Salvation, Zhang Gang style For the Season 4 closer, we end with a story taken from the Later Book of Han from the chapter all about the model official Zhang Gang. Not even the evil Liang Ji of Han Emperor Shun's time could poison ...
12.06.2021 S4E09 \| Rejected! Laszlo dredges up another great one from China's ancient times. This one not only features a story from Zhuangzi's Second Book of the Dao (a.k.a. The Zhuangzi) but also stars the great Confucius himself. In this story from the 5th ...
11.21.2021 S4E08 \| Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out Here's another good one to remember if your life should temporarily hit the skids and your friends scatter. This one comes from the Grand Historian himself, Sima Qian, who tells us all about Lord Zhai, a loyal and respected public ...
11.08.2021 S4E07 \| One Bad Apple Welcome back to another CSP. This time I'm happy to present to you another great one direct from The Zhuangzi. Everyone's favorite Daoist tells us the story about a young kid from the sticks who had a chance encounter with ...
10.24.2021 S4E06 \| From the Sublime to the Ridiculous In the latest CSP episode, we harken back to the early Jin Dynasty 晋朝 and the zaniness of the Sima Clan following the death of Emperor Wu of Jin. Plenty of blood flowed during the shake-out period as the 3rd ...
10.10.2021 S4E05 \| That's Worth a Lot! Today's CSP offering goes way way back to the time of Ancient Chu State during the 7th century BC. The famous "Hé Shì Bì" 和氏璧 Jade ornament discussed years ago in CSP episode S3E01 once again takes center stage. In ...
09.27.2021 S4E04 \| Showing Paul How to Write a Song Today's Chinese Saying, Bān Mén Nòng Fǔ 班门弄斧 comes to us courtesy of the Tang and Song Dynasty luminaries Liu Zongyuan and Ouyang Xiu who teach us about the Zhou Dynasty hero Lu Ban. He knew how to use an ...
09.13.2021 S4E03 \| Waiting in Vain Another classic from the long list of great Chinese Sayings. 守株待兔 Shǒu Zhū Dài Tù. Thank Han Feizi for this one. He teaches us not to sit around and wait for good luck to find us. Just because you got ...
08.27.2021 S4E02 \| They Smilin' in Your Face Remember that O'Jay's tune from 1972, "Backstabbers"? They must have had Tang Dynasty chancellor Li Linfu in mind. The story behind our Chinese Saying for this time 口蜜腹剑 tells the story of this 8th-century politician/official who served the great Emperor ...
08.16.2021 S4E01 \| The Four-Legged Snake Welcome back to the fourth season of the Chinese Sayings Podcast...after three years and seven months, we continue on where we left off with another story behind one of the great Chinese Sayings, or chengyu. This time around we harken ...
01.20.2018 S3E10 \| Always Expect the Unexpected For the final episode of Season 3 Laszlo closes with one of the classics from the Three Kingdoms era. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang star in this drama played against the backdrop of the Battle of Red Cliff. Who hasn't ...
01.12.2018 S3E09 \| I Gotta Get to the Gym! Another classic from the Eastern Han which features the future King of Shu, the great Liu Bei of Three Kingdoms period renown. In this episode we find Liu Bei catching a breather after suffering a defeat in the service of ...
01.04.2018 S3E08 \| Create Your Destiny Laszlo introduces another nobody from Chinese history named Zong Que who had his own great aspirations. He swore he would make something of himself one day. Furthermore, if he did, he was determined to do it as a soldier. Although ...
12.28.2017 S3E07 \| There's Always a Way This week's Chinese Saying comes from a story direct from the Eastern Han Dynasty. It features the Guangwu Emperor who gave us this useful idiom when he praised the star of our episode. For a full list of the terms ...
12.19.2017 S3E06 \| Seeing is Believing! When the Han Emperor Xuan had a headache out in west China he called on Old Reliable, General Zhao Chongguo, to deal with it. From this, we get one of the most useful Chinese Sayings ever! For a full list ...
12.13.2017 S3E05 \| He Sure Had a Lot of Gall We're midway through the halfway point in Season 3. China History Podcast fans will all know this story from which our Chengyu was derived. These is the early years of the Warring States period. Kings Goujian of Yue State and ...
11.29.2017 S3E04 \| A Man of Great Ambition We're in the dying days of the Qin Dynasty with this week's Chinese Saying. The Dazexiang Uprising marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Qin empire. In this episode we meet Chen Sheng, a.k.a. Chen She, whose origins ...
11.22.2017 S3E03 \| Go For Broke! For this week's offering, we hear the well-known legend of Xiang Yu, Zhang Han, and Liu Bang. As the Qin Dynasty starts to crumble Xiang Yu heads to the defense of Zhao State to face off against the ever-victorious Qin ...
11.14.2017 S3E02 \| So Sorry! We continue on with another story featuring the great statesman from the Warring States period, Lin Xiangru. After becoming a hero last episode for returning the He Shi Bi Jade back to Zhao, Lin rose high in the government. But ...
11.06.2017 S3E01 \| True to His Word Season 3 is off and running with an episode featuring the Western Han statesman and hero Sima Xiangru. In this Season 3 series all episodes will feature heroes and brave soldiers from Chinese history. In this episode Sima Xiangru promises ...
04.24.2017 S2E10 \| You Smell That? In the CSP Season 2 finale, Laszlo picks out a good one featuring China's most famous person from ancient times. Today with our smartphone-obsessed lifestyles you can say we too are sometimes so absorbed in our TikTok videos and Twitter, ...
04.16.2017 S2E09 \| Whole Lotta Love Laszlo tells a story of true love between two literary famosas from the Song Dynasty. Theirs was the perfect love that contained all the ingredients of marital bliss except length of years together. For a full list of the terms ...
04.10.2017 S2E08 \| Give it All You Got! Back to Shandong Province and the Spring and Autumn Period to the epic Battle of Chang Shao 684 BCE to learn how underdog Lu State, by the beat of a drum, out-strategized their bigger and more powerful neighbor to the ...
04.03.2017 S2E07 \| Double Sorrow Here's another musical chengyu with an injection of sadness. It's a theme that has inspired movies, plays, and every kind of literature. When your eye catches an object that reminds you of someone important in your life who had passed ...
03.26.2017 S2E06 \| I Love You Man! This is a nice musical Chinese Saying to describe a soulmate or someone who can be called your 知音 (zhīyīn)..a friend who is appreciative or understanding of a friend (and his talents). Like almost all of this Chengyu, it comes ...

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