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葉公好龍 — loving it in name only: chengyu story and meaning

葉公好龍 — To claim a passion that collapses the moment the real thing shows up. Used for professed tastes — adventure, tradition, honesty — that fail their first real test.

Simplified

叶公好龙

Literal meaning

Lord Ye loves dragons

Source

Liu Xiang, Xin Xu (New Prefaces, 1st century BCE)

When to use it

Said of professed passions that fail contact with reality, e.g. claiming to love the outdoors while refusing every muddy trail.

The story

Lord Ye of Chu decorated everything he owned with dragons: the beams of his hall, the screens, the dishes, the belt-hooks, even the windows. His devotion became famous, and the true Dragon in heaven heard of it and decided to pay a visit, lowering its head at his window and coiling its tail through the hall. The lord took one look at the real scales and claws, turned white, and fled for his life. Heaven's dragon departed unimpressed: this man loves the carving, not the creature. The tale is kept for every enthusiasm that adores the symbol and flees the substance.

Example

Characters

• 葉
• 公
• 好
• 龍

More chengyu stories

• 畫蛇添足 (waak6 se4 tim1 zuk1) — To spoil something good by adding what it does not need. Used when extra touches make a finished job worse, not better.
• 守株待兔 (sau2 zyu1 doi6 tou3) — To hope lightning strikes twice instead of working for what you want. Used for people who copy a one-off lucky break instead of adapting.
• 亡羊補牢 (mong4 joeng4 bou2 lou4) — Losses already taken are a reason to fix the cause, not to give up. Used to encourage action after a failure: repair the hole, then carry on.
• 掩耳盜鈴 (jim2 ji5 dou6 ling4) — To pretend a problem does not exist by blocking out the evidence, in a way that fools nobody but yourself. Used for self-deception that is obvious to everyone else.

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