The dust is covered with rice
As a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is ch é ng à NGT ú f à n, which means children's games. It's a metaphor for something that's useless. It comes from the book of answering Tang Xun Xun Xun.
The origin of Idioms
According to Qian Qianyi's treatise on answering Tang's admonitions in the Qing Dynasty, "the folklore after the Southern Song Dynasty is like a piece of dust. Those who know a little about the taste can spit and abandon it."
Discrimination of words
Apply: mud. Soup made of dust, rice made of mud. Refers to children's games. It's a metaphor for something that's useless. [synonym]: dust and rice
Idiom usage
To be the subject or object; to refer to something that is taken as real
The dust is covered with rice
work shame facedly with one's enemies - tiǎn yán shì chóu
it is foolish to demand a great help from a mere acquaintance - jiāo qiǎn yán shēn
Success or failure depends on people - dé shī zài rén