Chinese

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!brick !to lead; to divert (water); to guide !jade |- !trad. (拋磚引玉) | 拋 | 磚 | 引 | 玉 |- !simp. (抛砖引玉) | 抛 | 砖 | 引 | 玉 |- !Literally: “to toss a brick to attract the jade”. |}

Idiom

拋磚引玉

1. (self-depreciating) To offer one's own relatively worthless words, opinions, or services in order to attract others' more valuable contributions

   20多年前，曾琦是第一個到廈門投資的港商，當時他想的就是當一個「拋磚引玉的人」，讓更多的港、澳、台、僑商回國投資。 [MSC, trad.]

   20多年前，曾琦是第一个到厦门投资的港商，当时他想的就是当一个“抛砖引玉的人”，让更多的港、澳、台、侨商回国投资。 [MSC, simp.]

   20 duō nián qián, Zēng Qí shì dì yī ge dào Xiàmén tóuzī de gǎngshāng, dāngshí tā xiǎng de jiùshì dāng yī ge "pāozhuān yǐnyù de rén", ràng gèngduō de Gǎng, Ào, Tái, qiáoshāng huíguó tóuzī. [Pinyin]

   More than 20 years ago, Zeng Qi was the first Hong Kong businessman to go to Xiamen to invest. At the time, he thought of himself as a a plain rock that attracts jade, making it possible for even more businessmen from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas to return to the motherland to invest.

2. (originally rare) To achieve success by goading one's opponent

See also

Thirty-Six Strategems on Wikipedia.Wikipedia