Video: The Meaning Behind 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and Other Four Word Chinese Phrases

The Great LOL of China, made in conjunction with Asia Society's China Learning Initiatives, is a bilingual video series starring Beijing-based American comedian Jesse Appell. The bi-weekly episodes aim to highlight unique aspects of Chinese culture and society through comedy.

In this week’s episode, game show contestants try to guess the meanings behind several Chinese “chengyu." These seemingly nonsensical four word phrases like "crouching tiger hidden dragon" or "chicken fly dog bark" have deeper meanings attached, and there are over 10,000 of them in Chinese. Watch the video and see if you can make sense of some chengyu.