CHINESE PROVERBS, A Bilingual Dictionary (Chinese-English), Short Expressions of Popular Wisdom. Proverbs are short and pithy sayings that encapsulate the experience, ideological content and artistic quality of a society's values and beliefs in short and well-known expressions of popular wisdom. They are elements of a language that distinctly define a culture in a manner loved by the masses. In Chinese Proverbs, readers will discover a cornucopia of eastern wisdom, truths, morals and traditional views that they can hand down from generation to generation.