As we all know, there are numerous set phrases in Chinese language which are very meaningful and difficult to understand. Therefore, it is important for the foreign students who attend to HSK preparation program in China to know something about the characteristics of Chinese set phrases. The set phrases have the characteristics like meaning integrity, structure coagulability, nationality and also the feature of four characters. All of the four features will be explained in the following parts to be a help.
The meanings of the set phrases are usually very deep and profound because it is highly integrated. It is not as simple as the ordinary phrases which are combined with several characters. When you try to understand the set phrases, you should master them by regarding them as a whole and never understand them as the characters show. For example, the set phrase 完璧归赵should not be understood simply as “to return the jade to Zhao State”, but should extend it to “return something completely to the owner of it”.
For the firmness in the structure, you should know you can’t just change the structure of a set phrase as you like because all of them are formed after a long time application in the history. As a matter of fact, the firmness of the set phrases is expressed in two aspects. On one hand, each element of the set phrases can’t be changed. For examples, you can change 弃暗投明into弃暗投亮, 掩耳盗铃into掩耳偷铃 or 亡羊补牢into亡牛补牢.
On the other hand, the students who study Mandarin Chinese should realize that the order of characters in the set phrases can’t be changed willingly. If you change深谋远虑into远虑深谋, the places of words are changed, going against the conventional principle and breaking the original inner grammatical relationships. Of course, there are also a few exceptions, the most typical one of which should be 海角天涯and天涯海角.
The nationality means that the set phrases in Chinese language reflect the Chinese civilization and culture, including all aspects of the life of Chinese people. The last but not least point is that most set phrases are four-character structured. Even the original forms are not four characters, they can be refined into four characters.