纸上谈兵

zhǐ shàng tán bīng

HSK 3.0 Level 7 Rare

Definitions

1. lit. military tactics on paper (idiom)
2. fig. theoretical discussion that is worse than useless in practice
3. armchair strategist
4. idle theorizing
5. cf Zhao Kuo 赵括zhào kuò leading an army of 400,000 to total annihilation at battle of Changping 长平之战cháng píng zhī zhàn in 260 BC

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Child Words of 纸上谈兵

a force

paper

to speak

on top