Chinese proverb 指桑骂槐 zhi3 sang1 mai4 huai2 innuendo / insinuation – How to say “He criticizes his opponents by insinuation” in Chinese: ta1 (他 pronoun, he) zhi3 (指 verb, point at) sang1 (桑 noun, mulberry tree) ma4 (骂 verb, scold) huai2 (槐 noun, locust tree) de5 (地 a connecting particle usually follows an adverb or adverb phrase and precedes a verb which the adverb modifies) pi1 ping2 (批评 verb, criticize) ta1 de5 (他的possessive pronoun, his) dui4 shou3 (对手 noun, opponents)他指桑骂槐地批评他的对手。
The Chinese idiom, 指桑骂槐 (zhi3 sang1 ma4 huai2) literally means pointing at the mulberry tree but cursing the locust tree instead. In today’s sentence, it functions as an adverb phrase (insinuatingly) to modify the verb criticize.
This idiom comes from the 26th stratagems of the famous Thirty-Six stratagems (三十六計 san1 shi2 liu4 ji4). The Thirty-Six Stratagems was a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems that can be used in politics, war, as well as in civil interaction, often through unorthodox or deceptive methods.
In actual situation, you can use 指桑骂槐 to scold person A but in fact you scold person B instead. When the person (A) you intend to criticize is more senior than you or to whom you have a special relation, then you can scold person (B) instead to channel your bad mood out and to avoid direct confrontation or retaliation. But, it would be better if you talked to person (B) in advance, so that he or she could understand the plan and won’t get dreadful reaction from the strategy. For example, a mean mother-in-law might criticize a friend’s daughter-in-law in front of her own daughter-in-law and say how bad that lady is, but instead, the mother-in-law was criticizing her own daughter-in-law.
If you figured out that someone is insinuatingly scolding you, you can say “你有话直说，不要指桑骂槐” ni3 you3 hua4 zhi2 shuo1, bu2 yao4 zhi3 sang1 ma4 huai2. Please say it straightly, don’t be insinuating.
The mulberry trees are useful plants for people or for natural creatures, like silkworms. It’s fruit is called sang1 shen4 桑椹 mulberries, and can be used as fresh fruit or used to make jam or wine. Sang1 shu4 yue4 桑树叶 mulberry tree leaves are the food for silkworms (蚕 can2). Can2 蚕, silkworms, offspring of moths, can produce pricey silk, by spewing out thread from tiny holes in their jaws, which they use to spin into their egg-bearing cocoons. This entire production takes a mere 72 hours, during which time they produce between 500-1200 silken threads. The ancient Chinese discovered the silkworm’s secret, and were the first to spin the silkworm’s threads into cloth.
When I was young in my elementary school years, a few times I kept some silkworms as pets in cardboard shoe boxes. I remember that I had to pierce some small holes for them to breathe, go out to pick leaves of mulberry trees and lay them inside the boxes… and then saw them grow, and fly away. I never had chances to make silk from the cocoons, but I still remember the soft touch I felt when I held the cocoons in my palms…