葉公好龍

Chinese

		Duke of Ye/She	to like	dragon; imperial; surname
trad. (葉公好龍)		葉公	好	龍
simp. (叶公好龙)		叶公	好	龙
Literally: “Duke of Ye/She liking dragons”.

Etymology

From a parable in 《新序》 (New Prefaces), describing Duke of Ye/She, who was obsessed with drawings of dragons, but fled in terror when he saw a real dragon.

葉公子高好龍，鉤以寫龍，鑿以寫龍，屋室雕文以寫龍。於是天龍聞而下之，窺頭於牖，施尾於堂。葉公見之，棄而還走，失其魂魄，五色無主。是葉公非好龍也，好夫似龍而非龍者也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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叶公子高好龙，钩以写龙，凿以写龙，屋室雕文以写龙。于是天龙闻而下之，窥头于牖，施尾于堂。叶公见之，弃而还走，失其魂魄，五色无主。是叶公非好龙也，好夫似龙而非龙者也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Han Dynasty, New Prefaces (新序), Liu Xiang (劉向)

Shègōng Zǐgāo hào lóng, gōu yǐ xiě lóng, záo yǐ xiě lóng, wū shì diāo wén yǐ xiě lóng. Yúshì tiānlóng wén ér xià zhī, kuī tóu yú yǒu, yì wěi yú táng. Shègōng jiàn zhī, qì ér xúanzǒu, shī qí húnpò, wǔsèwúzhǔ. Shì Shègōng fēi hào lóng yě, hào fū sì lóng ér fēi lóng zhě yě. [Pinyin]

Duke of Ye/She Zigao liked dragons, dragons drawn on hooks, dragons drawn on wine vessels, dragons drawn at house carvings. So, the dragon in the sky listened then went down, head peeking through the windowsill, tail extended into the hall. Duke of Ye/She saw it, gave up then turned around and ran, losing his soul, extremely terrified. This is Duke of Ye/She not liking dragons, he liked those resembling dragons but are not dragons.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Yègōnghàolóng, Shègōnghàolóng

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄝˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄏㄠˋ ㄌㄨㄥˊ, ㄕㄜˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄏㄠˋ ㄌㄨㄥˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sip³ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴ / jip⁶ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Yègōnghàolóng
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄝˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄏㄠˋ ㄌㄨㄥˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Yègonghàolóng
    • Wade–Giles: Yeh⁴-kung¹-hao⁴-lung²
    • Yale: Yè-gūng-hàu-lúng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Yehgonghawlong
    • Palladius: Егунхаолун (Jegunxaolun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛ⁵¹ kʊŋ⁵⁵ xɑʊ̯⁵¹ lʊŋ³⁵/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Taiwan, literary variant in Mainland)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Shègōnghàolóng
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄜˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄏㄠˋ ㄌㄨㄥˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Shègonghàolóng
    • Wade–Giles: Shê⁴-kung¹-hao⁴-lung²
    • Yale: Shè-gūng-hàu-lúng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Shehgonghawlong
    • Palladius: Шэгунхаолун (Šɛgunxaolun)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂɤ⁵¹ kʊŋ⁵⁵ xɑʊ̯⁵¹ lʊŋ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sip³ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴ / jip⁶ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴
    • Yale: sip gūng hou lùhng / yihp gūng hou lùhng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sip⁸ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴ / jip⁹ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: xib³ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴ / yib⁶ gung¹ hou³ lung⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siːp̚³ kʊŋ⁵⁵ hou̯³³ lʊŋ²¹/, /jiːp̚² kʊŋ⁵⁵ hou̯³³ lʊŋ²¹/

Idiom

葉公好龍

1. to pretend to like something which one actually dislikes or fears

   • 嘴裡天天說“喚起民眾”，民眾起來了又害怕得要死，這和葉公好龍有什麼兩樣！ [MSC, trad.]
     嘴里天天说“唤起民众”，民众起来了又害怕得要死，这和叶公好龙有什么两样！ [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1927, 毛澤東 (Mao Zedong), 《湖南農民運動考察報告》 (Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan), 《毛澤東選集》. English translation based on the Foreign Languages Press edition

     Zuǐ lǐ tiāntiān shuō “huànqǐ mínzhòng”, mínzhòng qǐlái le yòu hàipà dé yàosǐ, zhè hé yègōnghǎolóng yǒu shénme liǎngyàng! [Pinyin]

     To talk about "arousing the masses of the people" day in and day out and then to be scared to death when the masses do rise--what difference is there between this and Lord Sheh's love of dragons?