Mutual assurance vital to controlling damage

As the jewels of classical Chinese literature, four-character idioms, those based on educating legends in particular, are wonderful vehicles of traditional values. When used properly, the terse phrases can convey profound messages. Like the two President Xi Jinping used in Seattle.

Speaking on Sino-US relations on Tuesday, Xi said the two countries should avoid both sanren-chenghu and yilin-daofu. The former literally translates into "believing there is a tiger because three people have said so", and the latter, "suspecting the neighbor of stealing the axe".

The idioms, respectively from the Warring States (475-221 BC) and Western Han (206 BC-AD 24) periods, tell two separate stories about respect for facts.