Shooting Two Eagles with One Arrow

Characters:

Pronunciation: yi(1) jian(4) shuang(1) diao(1)
Explanation: A metaphor to say one action gains two profitable results

Tone: Positive

The Story: In the North and South Dynasty, Zhangsun Sheng was a general of Zhou. He mastered strategy and his shooting skill was excellent. He was a great man indeed.

One year, he brought the princess to Tu Jue (a kingdom northwest of present-day Turkey) for an international marriage. When they arrived at Tu Jue, the king wanted to test Zhangshun's shooting skill.

They went out to hunt and they saw two eagles in the sky were fighting for food. The King gave Zhangsun Sheng two arrows and told him to shoot them down. Zhangsun Sheng shoot both just with one arrow.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Zhe(4) shi(4) ge(4) hao(3) zhu(3) yi(4), ke(3) yi yi(1) jian(4) shuang(1) diao(1).

Usage Example (English translation): This is a good idea, it can shoot two eagles with one arrow.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.