葉公好龍

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Chinese

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

Etymology

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From a parable in 《新序》 (New Prefaces), describing a man named (Shè Gōng/Yè Gōng, “Lord Ye/Lord She”), who was obsessed with drawings of dragons, but fled in terror when he saw a real dragon.

葉公子高於是葉公還走魂魄五色無主葉公 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
叶公子高于是叶公还走魂魄五色无主叶公 [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]
Lord 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. Lord Ye/She saw it, gave up then turned around and ran, losing his soul, extremely terrified. This is Lord Ye/She not liking dragons, he liked those resembling dragons but are not dragons.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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葉公好龍

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