脫褲子放屁 (歇後語 Xiehouyu)

Sorry I have to start with something that’s not so elegant. 放屁 (fang4 pi4) means to fart. When you break wind, do you need to take off your pants? (脫褲子(tuo ku4 z3)) So when someone is doing something unnecessary, We’ll use this 歇後語Xie hou4 yu3 to describe it. Vulgar, perhaps, but vivid and funny.

According to Vikipedia, 歇後語 is  "a saying with the latter-part suspended." It is a kind of Chinese proverb consisting of two elements: the former segment presents a novel scenario while the latter provides the rationale thereof. Take the title for example, the whole saying would be

脫褲子放屁—多此一舉(tuo ku4 z3 fang4 pi4, duo c3 yi4 qu3) It’s an unnecessary act to take off your pants and fart.

When you realize how many corruption or embezzlement cases our former president Chen and his family had involved, you might want to use the one 和尚打傘 (he2 shang4 da3 san3) to describe the former first family. For 和尚, a monk, wears no hair, and the phrase “no hair” 無髮(wu2 fa3) is pronounced the same as 無法, lawless. When a monk uses an umbrella, the sky will be blocked and not been seen, which leads to the phrase 無天(wu2 tian), without the sky. But 天 could also refer to 天理(tian li3), justice of the nature or the God. So it goes as和尚打傘--無法(髮)無天

Let’s go on with the example of the former president. His behavior has irritated the people and aroused public indignation. We can say it’s like 公廁裏丟石頭—激起公憤(糞)(gong ce4 li3 diu sh2 tou2--ji qi3 gong fen4)  If your throw a stone to a public toilet, you’ll arouse “public excrement,” 公糞, which sounds exactly the same as公憤, the public indignation.

Such examples can go on and on, as in our language puns are everywhere. Not to mention those historic or literary allusions. As the歇後語 goes, 三十六計，走為上策(san sh2 liu4 ji4, zou3 wei2 shang4 ce4), the best strategy is to run, I’d better go now and talk about it later.

歇後語=歇后语 (Simplified)

脫褲子放屁—多此一舉=脱裤子放屁—多此一举

和尚打傘--無法(髮)無天=和尚打伞--无法(发)无天

公廁裏丟石頭—激起公憤(糞)

三十六計，走為上策=三十六计，走为上策

三十六計: The Thirty-Six Stratagems (三十六計／三十六计, Sānshíliù Jì) was a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, as well as in civil interaction, often through unorthodox or deceptive means.      -- Wikipedia