按下葫芦起了瓢。
àn xia húlu qǐ le piáo.
One gourd is pushed under the water, but another floats up.
àn xia húlu qǐ le piáo.
One gourd is pushed under the water, but another floats up.
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Where are you getting the proverbs and translations from? The English doesn't seem to match the Mandarin here?
按下葫芦
Push gourd down
起了瓢。
Raise the ladle
??
Is there wider context for this proverb and the meaning of it? Obviously the proverb can be quite seriously abbreviated!
I have to be honest, I found this one in a new source that I hadn't used before.
However I have a feeling that the other meaning for 瓢 is a ladle or dipper, my guess is this word actually refers only to dippers and ladles made from gourds?
a dipper gourd: http://simplejill.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/will1.jpg