Learn Seasonal Idioms for the Time of Spring Rains | Language

Stormy sayings in celebration of spring
今日谷雨，来看看和雨有关的成语吧

When legendary historian Cang Jie (仓颉) created Chinese characters thousands of years ago, grain supposedly fell from the sky like raindrops in celebration. This year, April 20 marks the start of rainy season in China when, according to the ancient agricultural calendar, the sixth solar term brings “Grain Rain,” or Guyu (谷雨), to nourish the crops.

Many idioms or chengyu use “rain” metaphorically—in ancient times, the terms “wind (风)” and “rain (雨)” were often used together as euphemisms for political or other sticky situations. What better way to celebrate this season of storms and watchful words than with some rain-related idioms?

风调雨顺 fēngtiáo yǔshùn

Propitious winds and favorable rains

This proverb refers not only to good crop weather, but a peaceful era.

Favorable weather meant we reaped a bumper harvest this year.

Jīnnián fēngtiáo yǔshùn, wǔgǔ fēngdēng.

今年风调雨顺，五谷丰登。

风雨如磐 fēngyǔ rúpán
Succession of winds and rains

As above, this chengyu has a meterological meaning of “continuous rain,” but can also describe a society full of serious serious problems.

The gray and rainy weather lasted for three days straight.

Fēngyǔ rúpán, sān rì bú jì.

风雨如磐，三日不霁。

风雨不透 fēngyǔ bútòu
Airtight and watertight

This chengyu describes a state of being completely surrounded—or refers to a complete block of information.

There is a watertight block on information.

Xiāoxi fēngsuǒ de fēngyǔ bútòu.

消息封锁的风雨不透。

风雨飘摇 fēngyǔ piāoyáo
Swaying in the midst of a raging storm

This term means “shaky, precarious, and tottering,” and is often used metaphorically. One could say:

His company is swaying in the midst of a raging storm.

Tā de gōngsī zhèng chǔyú fēngyǔ piāoyáo zhī zhōng.

他的公司正处于风雨飘摇之中。

栉风沐雨 zhìfēng mùyǔ
Windswept and rain-soaked

This idiom means to brave the elements for travel or work, as in:

The team of prospectors braved wind and rain to work in the high mountains.

Zhè zhī zhēntànduì zhìfēng mùyǔ de fènzhàn zài gāoshān shēngǔ 

zhī zhōng.

这支侦探队栉风沐雨地奋战在高山深谷之中。

未雨绸缪 wèiyǔ chóumóu
Repair the house before it rains

As stated in the Book of Rites (《礼记》), one of the Confucian classics, “Preparedness ensures success, and unpreparedness spells failure (凡事预则立，不预则废).” There is a story behind this idiom: After the death of King Wu of the Zhou dynasty (1046 – 256 BCE), the throne passed to his young son King Cheng, with the late king’s younger brother Ji Dan (姬旦), the Duke of Zhou, acting as regent. However, malicious rumors caused a rift between the young king and his uncle, and the latter left the capital. 

Learning that some political enemies were plotting treason, the duke wrote to the king, warning, “Before it rains, I will repair the door and the window.” It took some doing to get the king to trust him, but eventually, King Cheng invited the Duke of Zhou back, and they suppressed the revolt together. The duke’s foresight was later summarized into this chengyu.

We should take precautions and prepare early.

Wǒmen yào wèiyǔ chóumóu，zǎo zuò zhǔnbèi.

我们要未雨绸缪，早做准备。

翻手为云，覆手为雨 fān shǒu wéi yún, fù shǒu wéi yǔ
Make clouds with one turn of the hand, and rain with another

“Rain” doesn’t only follow “wind” in idioms—it’s also often found with the character “云,” or “cloud.” This idiom, and its abbreviated form 翻云覆雨, comes from Tang dynasty (618 – 907) poet Du Fu (杜甫), and refers to untrustworthy people, particularly those in positions of power:

He is a capricious and deceitful person. You need to be careful in your dealings with him.

Tā wéirén fānyún fùyǔ, hé tā dǎ jiāodao yào xiǎoxīn.

他为人翻云覆雨，和他打交道要小心。

巫山云雨 wūshān yúnyǔ
Clouds and rain over Mount Wushan

During the Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE), Song Yu (宋玉) wrote a tale in his essay “Gaotang Fu (《高唐赋》)”: While visiting a temple called Gaotang built in his hunting park, a king of the Chu Sate dreamed of sleeping with a beautiful woman who called herself the “Lady of Mount Wushan” and told the king she would become “a cloud in the morning, and rain in the evening.” Finding the local weather to be just as she described, the king built a temple for the lady known as the “Morning Could Temple.” The chengyu “Cloud and rain over Mount Wushan” has since become one of the more obscure (of many) Chinese euphemisms for sex.

Cover image from Pixabay

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