Chinese idiom · 成语
螳臂当车
Meaning
A mantis’s arm blocking a cart; to overestimate one’s strength against overwhelming odds.
Character by character
Origin and story
Philosophical analogyIn Zhuangzi (莊子), Ren Jian Shi (人間世), Qu Boyu counsels Yan He about the danger of serving as tutor to a difficult prince. He invokes a praying mantis raising its arms in the path of a cart, unaware that its strength is insufficient. The comparison warns against relying proudly on one’s abilities in a situation that exceeds them.
A separate account in Han Shi Wai Zhuan (韓詩外傳), volume 8, has Duke Zhuang of Qi turn his carriage aside because he admires a mantis’s courage. That more favorable ending belongs to a different telling. The usual idiom remains critical of an unrealistic mismatch between effort and power.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
只靠一个人去对抗整个诈骗集团，无异于螳臂当车，应该先报警。
Taking on an entire fraud ring alone would be hopelessly outmatched; the first step should be contacting the police.
Criticizes overestimating one’s power, though other tellings admire the mantis’s courage.