長袖善舞

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Chinese

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long; length; forever
long; length; forever; always; constantly; chief; head; elder; to grow; to develop
 
sleeve good to dance; to wield; to brandish
trad. (長袖善舞)
simp. (长袖善舞)
Literally: “long sleeves make a good dance”.

Etymology

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鄙諺:「長袖善舞。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
鄙谚:「长袖善舞。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: Han Feizi, circa 2nd century BCE
Bǐyàn yuē: “Cháng xiù shàn wǔ, duō qián shàn gǔ.” Cǐ yán duō zī zhī yì wèi gōng yě. [Pinyin]
There was a saying that “Long sleeves make a good dance, more money makes better business.” This means that if you have more resources, you can do things easier.

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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長袖善舞

  1. to have tricks up one’s sleeve and be likely to succeed
  2. (of businesspeople or politicians) be able to make good use of one's connections