Chinese Idioms and Fables
2 min readBeing an important part of the Chinese language and culture，Chinese idioms and fables are precious gems of Chinese wisdom.As a matter of fact，almost every Chinese idiom has a story behind it.Each idiom alludes to a particular narrative preserved and savored by the Chinese as an encapsulation of unique and significant comments upon life and society.
Fables are lively description of social phenomenon and vivid representation of history.Each fable contains a brief story with an underlying moral.Sometimes the implied common sense moral is evident，while other times it is not so.Some of these stories involve deities，while some involve only mortals or commoners.The merits of these stories lie not so much in their literary worth as in the common folk wisdom they convey.Often，they are short，have a simple plot，and can be told in just a few minutes.Today，many of these folktales have survivedas idioms，widely used and understood in the Chinese language.Whether in written or spoken text，the use of idioms can help make the utterance more vivid.
Fifteen source narratives have been selected and rewritten for presentation in this chapter.
The significance of these folktales is the display of Chinese values.Some of the common themes are:the triumph of justice over injustice；the supremacy of wisdom over sheer physical strength；examples of cleverness or resourcefulness-to mention just a few.These are all important traditional Chinese values which are passed from one generation to the next through the telling of fables.
