Safe return （完璧歸趙）

Burn your bridges （破釜沉舟）

A wolf in a sheep’s clothing （口蜜腹劍）

There are hundreds more of these Chinese idioms (chengyu) that pack a lot of meaning into four characters.

Many of these Chinese idioms originate from historical events, classics, and folklore; they give us valuable insights into Chinese culture, history, and literature.

Aimed at English learners, The Magic Four groups together some of these well-known stories with historical figures as its theme.

Each story is accompanied with extra learning elements:

• The literal and figurative meanings;

• A similar idiom/phrase in the English language;

• Definitions of useful vocabularies in the story;

• Meanings of different idioms/phrases used in the stories and examples;

Not only will you gain insight into Chinese wisdom accumulated for centuries, but also learn fun aspects of the English language too!