place a fire under a pile of firewood; a metaphor for a hidden great danger
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesidiom
to place a fire under a pile of firewood; to court disaster; a ticking time bomb
literaryOriginates from an ancient Chinese parable. Used to describe a situation where danger is hidden but imminent, often due to negligence or short-sighted policies. The synonymous variant is '积薪厝火' (jī xīn cuò huǒ).
Zhè这
zhǒng种
jī激
jìn进
de的
gǎi改
gé革
fāng方
àn案
rú如
tóng同
cuò厝
huǒ火
jī积
xīn薪
，
chí迟
zǎo早
huì会
yǐn引
fā发
dà大
wèn问
tí题
。
This radical reform plan is like placing a fire under a pile of firewood; it will cause major problems sooner or later.
Gōng公
sī司
nèi内
bù部
máo矛
dùn盾
bù不
duàn断
jī积
lěi累
，
guǎn管
lǐ理
céng层
què却
bù不
jiā加
gàn干
yù预
，
jiǎn简
zhí直
shì是
cuò厝
huǒ火
jī积
xīn薪
。
Internal conflicts within the company keep piling up, yet management does nothing to intervene. It's simply courting disaster.
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Lì历
shǐ史
shàng上
xǔ许
duō多
wáng王
cháo朝
de的
miè灭
wáng亡
，
dōu都
yīn因
tǒng统
zhì治
zhě者
cuò厝
huǒ火
jī积
xīn薪
ér而
bù不
zì自
zhī知
。
The fall of many dynasties in history was due to rulers unwittingly creating ticking time bombs.