There are words that we use in Chinese mostly on dramas or TV shows because their meaning is pretty negative for daily life. This Chinese idiom phrase is one of those that I have never actually used when talking to a person, but I hear it on TV all the time. The phrase is: "狼心狗肺 (lángxīngǒufèi) the heart of wolf and lungs of dog."

Its meaning is derived from the characters that it uses:

狼心狗肺 (Lángxīngǒufèi): cruel and unscrupulous; be brutal and cold-blooded; ungrateful and heartless.
狼 (Láng): the wolf.
(Chinese Fable Story: Wolf Is Coming.)
心 (Xīn): heart; mind, intelligence.
(Know What Does "心塞" Mean in China!)
狗 (Gǒu): dog.
(Do You Know What Does "单身狗" Mean in Chinese?)
肺 (Fèi): lungs.

This idiom is used to describe a particularly cruel or cold person, who has no empathy or sympathy for others. In dramas and TV shows, this type of person is usually a villain of some sort.

So how did this idiom come to be?

Well, legend has it that there was a folk doctor who lived during the "Warring States Period," who was called Bian Que. He often went to Funiu Mountain to treat his local patients. One day, as he was walking to Funiu Mountain, he was walking up a hillside on the northeast side of the Dongliubei and something caught his eye. It looked to be the body of a person, but this person was lying very still. As he walked closer he could see the person was dead. When he examined the body he determined the man had very recently been attacked. He could see the man was still breathing and knew there was hope he could be saved. He just needed a new heart and lungs. Bian Que knew his own heart and lungs were not healthy enough to save him.

Suddenly, a wolf passed by them. Bian Que attacked the wolf, used a scalpel to kill the wolf and take its heart. He opened the man’s cavity and put the heart into it.

Then he saw a dog walk past. He ran after it, caught and took its lungs. He put the lungs into the man’s cavity and suddenly the man began to breathe. He was alive!

You would think the man would be very grateful to Bian Que, but after the rescue... Read More