Chinese idioms：买椟还珠（Mǎidú-huánzhū ）

买椟还珠（Mǎidú-huánzhū ）
Chūnqiū shíqī, yǒu yí gè chǔguó de zhūbǎo shāngrén zài zhèngguó zuò zhēnzhū shēngyì. Wèi le ràng shēngyì hónghuǒ, tā xuǎnyòng míngguì de mùliào, zuò chéng xiǎo mùxiá, bìng yòng xiāngliào, zhūbǎo děng bǎ mùxiá zhuāngshì dé fēicháng piāoliàng, ránhòu bǎ zhēnzhū fàng zài lǐ miàn shòumài.
春秋时期，有一个楚国的珠宝商人在郑国做珍珠生意。为了让生意红火，他选用名贵的木料，做成小木匣，并用香料、珠宝等把木匣装饰得非常漂亮，然后把珍珠放在里面售卖。
Yǒu yígè zhèngguó rén, kàn jiàn zhèxiē zhuāng zhēnzhū de mùxiá jì jīngzhì yòu měiguān, jiù mǎi le yígè. Tā fù wán qián hòu, dǎkāi mùxiá, bǎ lǐmiàn de zhēnzhū ná le chūlái, tuìhái gěi zhūbǎo shāng, zhī názhe mùxiá jiù líkāi le.
有一个郑国人，看见这些装珍珠的木匣既精致又美观，就买了一个。他付完钱后，打开木匣，把里面的珍珠拿了出来，退还给珠宝商，只拿着木匣就离开了。
Keeping the glittering casket and giving back the pearls to the seller
In the period of Spring and Autumn, a jewelry dealer from Chu state was trading pearls in Zheng state. To make his pearls more popular, he put them in small caskets made of precious wood and luxuriously decorated these caskets with perfume and gem stones.
A person was very fond of these exquisite and beautiful caskets and bought one. After paying the money, he opened the casket, took the pearl out and gave it back to the dealer. He then left with the casket only.
词语注释words
珠宝(zhū bǎo) : jewelry (n.)
做生意(zuò shēngyi): do business
名贵(míngguì) : precious (adj.)
木匣(mùxiá) : wooden casket(n.)
装饰(zhuāngshì) : decorate (v.)
精致(jīngzhì) : exquisite (adj.)
退还(tuìhái) : give back (v.)

意义
Meanings
买椟还珠：原意是买来珠宝而只留下漂亮的盒子不要里面真正价值高的珠宝。经常用来比喻没有眼光取舍不当。
椟dú: casket of wood;珠zhū: pearl. Keeping the casket and giving back the pearl is an analogy meaning a lack of judgment and making the wrong decisions. It also refers to people who attach more importance to the appearance than the inner beauty or the quality.
例句
Sentences
Xiǎowáng mǎi dōngxī fēicháng zhùzhòng bāozhuāng, yǒushí huì zuòchū yìxiē “mǎidú-háizhū” de shǎshì.
小王买东西非常注重包装，有时会做出一些“买椟还珠”的傻事。
Xiao Wang cared too much about the package of the goods and sometimes he just did the silly things as Mǎidú-huánzhū .
Zhègè yǐngpiàn hányì shēnkè, dàn hěnduō guānzhòng zhī zhùyì dào le jǐchù gǎoxiào de qíngjiē, zhēn shì mǎidú-háizhū ā.
这个影片含义深刻，但很多观众只注意到了几处搞笑的情节，真是买椟还珠啊。
The movie was profound in meaning. However, the viewers only noticed several funny parts, which was really Mǎidú-huánzhū .