Idiom:To have an image of bamboo in one’s mind 胸有成竹

胸  有  成  竹
xiōng yǒu chéng zhú 
胸 xiōng, mind, heart
有 yǒu, to have, exist
成 chéng, finished
竹 zhú, bamboo

“Xiong You Cheng Zhu” is often used to describe someone who has already had an overall thinking before he decides to do something. (To have an image of bamboo in one’s mind.)

Antonym for “Xiong You Cheng Zhu” : adventurous (To have NO image of bamboo in one’s mind. You may say “xiong wu cheng zhu” for a change in a humous way.)

In the song Dynasty (960-1279),there was a scholar whose name was Wen Tong and who styled himself Yuke. He was not only admired by others for his great learning, but also enjoyed widespread renown for his bamboo drawing. Every day there were always quite a few peoply who called at his house to ask for one of his bamboo drawings.

As a matter of fact,there were quite a few painters contemporary with him who could draw bamboos fairly well. But how did it happen that Wen Tong drew better than anybody else? Of this point Su Shi and Chao Buzhi, buth of whom were Wen Tong’s good friends, gave vivid explanations in their respective poetic and prose works.

Actually, Wen Tong loved bamboos so much that he had grown various bamboos everywher around his house. No matter what season it was and no matter whether it was sunny or rainy, he used to go to the bamboo forest to observe how they were growing. He pondered over the lenght and breadth of the bamboo poles as well as the shapes and colours of the leaves. Whenever he had gained a new understanding, he went back to his study, spread a piece of paper and prepareed some ink by rubbing an ink stick on an ink slab, and drew what was in his mind on the paper.

Through accumulation over a long period of time, the images of the bamboo in different seasons, under different weather conditions and at different moments were deeply imprinted in his mind.So whenever he stood before the paper and picked up a painting brush with concentrated attention, the various forms of the bamboo which he had observed at ordinary times at once rose before his eyes. And so every time he was drawing bamboos he appeared confident and at ease, and all the bamboos he had painted were very vivid and true to lift.

When people spoke highly of his paintings, he always said modestly that he had just put the images of the bamboo imprinted in his mind on the paper.

A young man wanted to learn bamboo drawing; when he knew that Chao Buzhi had made a profound study of Wen Tong’s art of drawing, he went to Chao Buzhi for instruction. Chao Buzhi wrote a poem to him. In the poem, there are the following two lines:

When Yuke was painting the bamboos 与可画竹,

He bad their images ready in his mind 胸中有成竹.

Later people have summarized the lines as ” having had the images of the bamboo ready in one’s bosom,” which means having had ready plans or designs in one’s mind before doing a certain job so that its success is guaranteed. It is also used go mean being calm and cool - headed in dealing with things.

EXAMPLE:

It is widely known that Guus Hiddink achieved significant success in Korea. I wonder if it was his success that inspired you to come to China. The Chinese idiom “xiong you cheng zhu” means having a well-thought-out plan in mind. Is your China mission xiong you cheng zhu or adventurous?