I was reading "What Use is Economic Theory?" when I came across this:
There are many who disagree with this view, but hey, let a thousand flowers bloom.
'Let a thousand flowers bloom'? This sure sounds very familiar, although the expression is indeed new to me. Isn't this phrase from the Chinese (百花齐放)?
My intuition is proven quite easily. According to the Phrase Finder:
Let a thousand flowers bloom is a common misquotation of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Let a hundred flowers blossom". This slogan was used during the period of approximately six weeks in the summer of 1957 when the Chinese intelligentsia were invited to criticize the political system then obtaining in Communist China.
And the rest of the entry does not invite good memory... But, hey, I was right in spotting this one. Before this, the one and most famous Chinese-rooted English phrase is 'Long time no see'. Breaking every grammar rule, this phrase is nevertheless in regular use in modern English. Other ones like 'People mountain, people sea' and 'Good good study, day day up' don't count---they are still no more than jokes, and is little understood by a non-Chinese English speaker.
What other interesting Chinese phrases have been translated and regularly used in English? Can you name any one?
Long time no see.
Some more:
from Wiki