胸有成竹 (xiōng yǒu chéng zhú)

胸有成竹 (xiōng yǒu chéng zhú; chest have mature bamboos)

胸有成竹: describe the situation of having a well-thought-out plan beforehand.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, a painter named Wentong was famous for his paintings of bamboos. Why was he so good at painting bamboos? His secret was that he planted all kinds of bamboos around his house, so he could observe these bamboos growing and changing in different seasons and in different weather conditions. Gradually, the varied images of these bamboos were imprinted in his mind, and appeared vividly before his eyes whenever he began to paint. A poet described Wentong’s great skill in painting bamboo as胸有成竹 ---- the concept of bamboo exists in painter’s mind before painting. Later, people used this idiom to describe the situation of having a well-thought-out plan beforehand.