Dui Niu Tan Qin - Playing the Lute to a Cow

Synopsis

A famous Chinese idiom about playing music to a cow that does not appreciate it. It means wasting words on someone who cannot understand.

Meaning

Dui Niu Tan Qin literally means playing the lute to a cow. It describes wasting words on someone who cannot or will not understand.

The Story

A musician named Gongming Yi played his lute beautifully for a cow grazing in a field. The cow continued eating, completely unimpressed. Not because the cow could not hear, but because the elegant music was simply not something a cow could appreciate.

References

1. Hong Ming Ji
2. Mou Rong, Li Huo Lun
3. Dictionary of Chinese Idioms