完璧歸趙 (idiom)

Four days after I wrote “狐群狗黨” talking about my friend Spencer’s dog, Star’s missing, she returned. She was captured by a certain animal protection organization and her photo was posted online. Spencer not only has two dogs fight now, for he adopted a puppy during Star’s missing, but he’s expecting a litter of puppies!

When you retrieve something you’ve lost, we call it失而復得(shi er2fu4 de2). If something precious is returned intact, we’ll use the idiom 完璧歸趙(wan2 bi4 gui zhao4)

During Warring States Period 戰國時代(zhan4 guo2 shi2 dai4), (476BC to 221BC), King of state of Zhao got 和氏璧(he2 shi4 bi4), jade of He family, which was a very precious gem. Learning the news, King of state of Qin sent a letter to king of Zhao offering an exchange of the jade for 15 cities. King of Zhao was stuck in a dilemma. He had a doubt if he would get a fair deal since State of Qin was much stronger and its king was known for his ambition.

Someone recommended 藺相如(lin4 xiang4 ru2) as an ambassador to State of Qin to handle the deal. Lin asserted King of Zhao had to take the risk so that state of Qin wouldn’t have the excuse to invade state of Zhao.

After showing the jade to King of Qin, Lin observed that the king didn’t show any intention to keep his words, so he claimed that he’d like to show King of Qin a flaw on the jade and got back the jade.

Standing by a big pillar, Lin remarked that King of Zhao had neglected others’ opposition and taken his proposal to accept the deal because he believed that as a leader of a great state, king of Qin would keep his promise. But it seemed that he had been wrong. He showed an intention to hit the pillar and crash the jade after the speech.

King of Qin made a fake promise for fear that Lin should smash the jade. Detecting King of Qin’s real intention, Lin delayed the deal till five days later with an excuse but detached someone to send back the jade.

Instead of killing Lin, King of Qin let go of Lin. And the jade was returned to State of Zhao intact, which is why we use the idiom完璧歸趙 today. 完璧means the intact jade; 歸趙 returned to state of Zhao.

We also use the term to 完璧describe a virgin girl as in完璧之身(wan2 bi4 zhi shen), a body of intact jade. In terms of this, it’s not so proper to use the term 完璧歸趙 to this incident of Star’s coming back. For she’s now with puppies and we’re all looking forward to seeing them.

What if you give something but never get it back? We’ll say it’s 肉包子打狗, to hit a dog with dumpling stuffed with meat. It will end up 有去無回(you3 qu4 wu2 hui2), never getting it back.

完璧歸趙=完璧归赵

狐群狗黨=狐群狗党

失而復得=失而复得

有去無回=有去无回