Return the Intact Jade to Zhao

Characters:

Pronunciation: wan(2) bi(4) gui(1) zhao(4)
Explanation: A metaphor to say something is returned to its owner without any damage.

Tone: Positive

The Story: In the Warring States Period, the King of Qin heard that there was pure jade in Zhao, and he wanted to get it. One day, he wrote a letter to Zhao. He said he would like to use 15 towns to exchange for it. The King of Zhao knew it was a trick, but he was afraid the strong Qin would attack his nation if he refused. So he called his wise Prime Minister, Lin Xiangru, and appointed him to deal with this.

Lin Xiangru visited the Qin's palace some days later and presented the jade to Qin's King in person. But the king neither returned the jade to Lin Xiangru nor mentioned the exchange of the 15 towns, instead, he handed it to his men and let them see it one by one. Lin Xiangru saw through the king's trick and said there was a flaw on the jade and he wanted to show them.

When the jade was given back to Lin Xiangru, he held it and leaned on a pillar shouting, "Before our king sent me here to present you with this jade, he was so sad that he fasted for five days. But now I see you take it in such a piddling way and you do not have any sincerity for the towns' exchange at all. Now I have it in my hand, if you want to rob it, I will break it together with my head on this pillar."

The king of Qin did like the jade and he wanted to keep it. He accepted Lin Xiangru's condition to fast for five days before getting the jade.

Lin Xiangru was quite clear that Qin would not exchange 15 towns for the jade, and he took this opportunity to return to Zhao.

Usage Example (Pinyin): xian(4) zai(4) wo(3) ba(3) ni(3) de dian(4) nao(3) wan(2) bi(4) gui(1) zhao(4) le

Usage Example (English translation): I've given your computer like returning the intact jade to Zhao.

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.