In the Strategies of the Warring States, the retainer Feng Xuan tells Lord Mengchang: “A cunning hare has three burrows, and even so it only just escapes death. Now my lord has one burrow and cannot yet sleep on a high pillow. Let me dig two more for my lord.”
The Handian dictionary explains 狡兔三窟: the cunning hare builds three connected burrows. It is a metaphor for planning thoroughly to escape future disaster.
In the main reception hall of the Kang Baiwan Manor in Gongyi, Henan, hangs a plaque known as the 留余 plaque, Leave a Surplus. It quotes the Southern Song scholar Wang Boda: “Leave a surplus. Leave skill unexhausted, to return to creation. Leave a surplus. Leave salary unexhausted, to return to the court. Leave wealth unexhausted, to return to the people. Leave blessings unexhausted, to return to the descendants.”
The plaque adds: “The creator dislikes fullness. When matters are pushed to the end, regret always follows.” It is dated to the first day of the first lunar month of 1871.
In August 2022, the State Council published the white paper The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era. It states: “We do not promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures.” The same sentence adds that this is directed at outside interference and at “a very small number of Taiwan independence separatists,” not at the people of Taiwan, and that non-peaceful means would be “a last resort.”
留有余地 To leave some room. In 1958 and again in 1960, Mao Zedong told his colleagues to leave room. On April 11, 1958, he said: “Even in drawing up plans and raising slogans, leave some room. Speak a little flexibly about time and space.” On June 14, 1960: “Not leaving room on paper and in words, but really leaving room in practice.”
韬光养晦 To hide one’s abilities and keep them out of view. The Handian dictionary cites a Qing novel: “You must hide your light, and then watch the timing of heaven.”
In Chinese foreign policy, the phrase is linked to Deng Xiaoping’s guidance around 1990. Sources differ on the exact wording of his formula and on when he first used it. The Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping record a related line: “We must never take the lead. This is a basic state policy.”
家丑不可外扬 Family shame must not be spread outside. The private failings of a family are not to be made known to outsiders. The Handian dictionary cites an earlier form, 家丑不外扬, from the Song dynasty Compendium of Five Lamps (五灯会元).
一家人不说两家话 One family does not speak the words of two families. Among one’s own people, there is no need for polite formulas.
体己话 Intimate words. The private talk between people who are close. The Handian dictionary takes its example from Dream of the Red Chamber.
知根知底 To know the root and the bottom. To know someone well. The dictionary’s example reads: “We are old friends. We know each other through and through.”
In his essay Secrets of Writing (作文秘诀), Lu Xun wrote: “A boxing master holds back a move when he teaches his pupils. He fears that once they have learned everything, they will beat him to death and take his place.”
Doctors have secret prescriptions, cooks secret methods and pastry shops secret recipes. “To protect their family’s livelihood, it is said, these are taught only to the sons’ wives and not to the daughters, so that they do not pass to other families.”
The phrase is 留一手, to keep back one hand. The Handian dictionary defines it as keeping some skills back and not bringing them out. A popular tale tells how the cat taught the tiger everything except how to climb trees. When the tiger tried to eat its teacher, the cat escaped up a tree.
抬头不见低头见 If not when looking up, then when looking down. Said of people who see each other all the time.
做人留一线，日后好相见 In dealing with people, leave a thread, so that meeting later will be easy.
留后路 To leave a road back. To keep a way out or some room for oneself.
Chapter 7 of The Art of War lists rules for the use of troops. Among them: “Do not block an army that is going home. When surrounding an army, leave it a gap. Do not press an enemy at bay.” In the original: 归师勿遏，围师必阙，穷寇勿迫.
逢人且说三分话，未可全抛一片心 When meeting people, say only three tenths of what is on the mind. Do not throw out the whole heart. (Words to Broaden Wisdom, a collection of old sayings)
酒逢知己千杯少，话不投机半句多 With a close friend, a thousand cups of wine are too few. When the talk does not suit, half a sentence is too many.