cannot clap with one hand

cannot clap with one hand

It's a Chinese idiom. Pinyin is g ūǎǎ NGN á nm í ng, which means it's hard for a palm to clap. It's a metaphor for power to be alone and hard to accomplish. It's from Han Feizi's Gongming.

The origin of Idioms

Han Fei's Hanfeizi Gongming: "the trouble of human being is not to respond to it. Therefore, it is said that one hand claps alone, although it is silent."

Idiom usage

Subject predicate type; used as predicate and attributive; used for weak influence. According to Feng Menglong's Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the prince was not seen in the palace for a long time after Shen, but he was demoted to the state of Shen when asked by the Palace officials. It's hard to cry in one's own hand. I've been complaining about my husband and thinking about my son all day, and I've spent the day in tears. " Chapter 46 of "three heroes and five righteousness" by Shi Yukun of Qing Dynasty: the second elder brother was inspired away, and the fifth younger brother was left alone. Guo Moruo's revolutionary spring and Autumn Annals: look at Chiang Kai Shek today: "I'm alone, so I have to pretend to be deaf, blind and dumb."

Analysis of Idioms

Lantern riddle: can't beat with one hand