Chinese idiom · 成语
投桃报李
Meaning
To give a peach, receive a plum; to reciprocate kindness.
Character by character
Origin and story
literary expressionThe Daya poem Yi (抑) in the Shijing (詩經) offers advice about conduct, restraint, and the example a person sets. Within that advice appears a compact exchange: someone gives the speaker a peach, and the speaker returns a plum. The fruit is an everyday image of responding to what another person offers.
The later idiom condenses this poetic line into four characters. There is no separate recorded adventure about two named friends exchanging fruit. Its enduring meaning is reciprocal goodwill: kindness calls forth kindness, and a gift receives a thoughtful response. The return need not be identical to the original favor, just as the poem answers one kind of fruit with another.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
邻居上周帮我收了快递，这周我替他浇花，也算投桃报李。
My neighbor collected my packages last week; watering his plants this week is my way of returning the favor.
Usually warm and positive, for reciprocating a kindness or gift.