Chinese idiom · 成语
买椟还珠
Meaning
To buy the box and return the pearl; to value the superficial over the essential.
Character by character
Origin and story
FableHan Feizi (韓非子), Wai Chu Shuo Zuo Shang (外儲說左上), tells of a man from Chu selling a pearl in Zheng. He provides an elaborate wooden box, perfumed and decorated with jewels and feathers. A buyer keeps the box but returns the pearl. The text remarks that the seller has shown skill at selling a box, not at selling a pearl.
The fable appears in a discussion of why Mozi’s teaching does not rely on ornate language. Beautiful presentation can distract a ruler from useful substance. The later idiom condemns mistaken priorities: choosing the attractive container while giving up the valuable thing it was meant to convey.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
买课程只看赠品，不看教学内容，岂不是买椟还珠？
Choosing a course for its free gifts while ignoring the teaching content gets the priorities backwards.
Use when attractive extras displace the essential value.