Learn Chinese – 对牛弹琴 Play the Zither to a Cow

对 dui 牛 niu 弹 tan 琴 qin  Play the Zither to a Cow

A certain artist had trouble finding an audience.

On a whim, he set up his zither in a field and began playing for a cow.

Classical tunes had no effect. Refined and modern tunes had no effect. Even his best tune had no effect. In the end, the cow just walked away.

The idiom has come to mean wasting one's breath when trying to reason with an unreasonable person – think about asking for a raise. It can also be used to deride those who don't consider their audience. Got a boring professor?

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