Unlocking Chinese Idiom: “No 300 Taels of Silver Buried Here”
“No 300 Taels of Silver Buried Here” (此地無銀三百兩Cǐdì wú yín sānbǎi liǎng) is a Chinese idiom that means a guilty person gives themselves away by protesting their innocence.
In English, the phrase “the lady doth protest too much” from Shakespeare’s Hamlet is roughly equivalent to “No 300 Taels of Silver Buried Here” because both expressions convey a person betraying their own guilt.
Context of “The Lady Doth Protest too Much”
In Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, there is a scene where Queen Gertrude, Claudius, and others watch a play-within-the-play. During this play, the Player Queen makes a declaration in flowery language that she will never remarry if her husband dies. After the play ends, Hamlet asks his mother, Queen Gertrude, “Madam, how like you this play?”
She replies, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” meaning that the Player Queen’s protestations of love and fidelity are too excessive to be believed.
Now that you know the story behind the English expression of “the lady doth protest too much” are you ready to learn what is the story behind the Chinese idiom “No 300 taels of silver buried here?”
Idioms origins
Once, a man named Zhang San worked hard for a year and saved 300 taels of silver.
Because he feared that someone might steal the silver, he thought up many ways to keep it safe. Finally, he settled on hiding the three hundred taels of silver inside a box and burying it in the ground behind his house.
But he was still afraid someone might dig the box up. So he wrote “No 300 taels of silver buried here” on a note, stuck it on the wall, and left feeling relieved.
He didn’t expect his neighbor, Wang Er, would see how he hid the silver. In the middle of the night, Wang Er stole all 300 taels of silver. To shift suspicion from himself, he also wrote a note, “Your neighbor Wang Er didn’t steal it,” and stuck it on the wall.
The following day, Zhang San went behind his house to check on the silver and found it missing. When he saw the note, he knew who had stolen it.
Modern Usage
Later, people began using the phrase to describe a situation where someone wants to conceal something but inadvertently draws attention to it.
For example:
“If it’s not you who did it, why are you blushing? It is “No 300 taels of silver buried here.”
不是你幹的，你臉紅什麼，真是此地無銀三百兩。
“If this has nothing to do with you, why are you explaining yourself so much? Isn’t this a little “No 300 taels of silver buried here?”
既然這件事跟你沒關係，你解釋那麼多幹什麼？是不是有點兒此地無銀三百兩啊。
“That male celebrity and that female celebrity walked hand in hand at first, but they parted at once as soon as they saw a reporter around. Isn’t this “No 300 taels of silver buried here? There must be something going on between them.”
那個男明星跟那個女明星一開始手拉著手走路，一看有記者就馬上分開了，這不是此地三銀三百兩嗎？他們之間肯定有事兒。
So the next time you want to keep a secret, remember not to call attention to it.
Not finished reading? Take a look at Guarding the Stump Waiting for Rabbit to keep learning about Chinese idioms.
