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Shǒu Zhū Dài Tù
守 株 待 兔

In Chinese Idioms today, we’ll study Shǒu Zhū Dài Tù, with its strict translation “to sit by a stump waiting for hares”.
What’s so interesting about hares? Well, we’re not going to tell you this idiom’s meaning straightaway.
But you should understand it right after you’ve heard this story.

Shanshan: Long, long ago, on a hot summer day, a farmer was weeding in the field with a hoe. Suddenly a hare scurried by and bumped into the trunk of a tree. The poor animal broke his neck and died instantly.

The farmer stopped hoeing and picked up the dead hare. He was overjoyed at the unexpected gain. He took the hare back home, cooked it and had a nice dinner.

While eating his supper, he thought to himself, “How wonderful! Game comes to me so easily! I’m tired of farming in the hot sun. I have to work hard until autumn before I can reap the crops. Back-breaking work, humph! Why not just sit under the tree and wait for more hares to run into the trunk!”

The next day, the farmer threw his hoe into the storeroom and went back to the field. He sat under the tree, indulging himself in the fantasy that he would get another hare. He waited and waited. “Where on earth are the hares?”

But his patience did not help. Many days passed but nothing happened. No more hares ran into the trunk.

His field was soon overgrown with weeds. Who knows what he lived on the next year if he kept sitting by the tree and doing nothing else?!…………

That fable is summed up in the idiom Shǒu Zhū Dài Tù 守株待兔 – to sit by a stump waiting for hares to come and dash themselves against it. Remember, in Chinese “Tu” is either a hare or a rabbit.

This metaphor is used to mock people who think they exploit accidental gains without any effort. Basically, it refers to those people who would rather rely on blind luck than hard work.

English speakers would maybe refer to such people as looking for pie in the sky, or as trusting in chance and strokes of luck.

Yes, and 守株待兔 also serves as a good lesson for someone who sticks strictly to his previous experience but neglects the possibility of change.
V. Week ahead:

A: Welcome back to Listeners’ Garden, now it’s time for the Week Ahead.
B: Let’s hear the CRI feature team’s plans for their coming shows.