Updated on December 27, 2022
US-China ties have been hitting new lows with each passing day. A few days ago, US President Biden had a call with Chinese president Xi Jinping. The conversation lasted for over 2 hours.
The call became a talk of the town, particularly because of the upcoming (unconfirmed) visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker. During the call, as expected, Taiwan issue was discussed.
President Xi warned that those who play with fire would be burned.
I thought of doing a quick post to share some related phrases to help you learn Chinese.
Do you know how to say “Playing with Fire” in Chinese?
Let’s learn.
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President Xi used a (slightly modified form of a) Chinese idiom to express his thoughts. Here is the idiom:
- 玩火自焚 (wán huǒ zì fén): Those who play with fire get burned
Here:
- 玩火 (wán huǒ): play with fire
The exact phrase used by President Xi was:
- 玩火必自焚 (wán huǒ bì zì fén): Those who play with fire will certainly get burned; If you play with fire, you will burn yourself
That is to say, President Xi inserted the character 必 in the idiom.
- 必 (bì): certainly
In fact, the idiom can be modified in several other ways:
- 玩火易自焚 (wán huǒ yì zì fén): it’s easy to get burned if you play with fire
- 易 (yì): easy
In case you wish to show a bit of uncertainty (such as if you play with fire, you may get burned), you can use another famous Chinese phrase (idiom). This worth knowing phrase is:
- 常在河边走，哪有不湿鞋 (Cháng zài hé biān zǒu, nǎ yǒu bù shī xié): If you walk along the river often, you cannot avoid getting your shoes wet.
-Jia