"In the bag" — Phrase of the Week
Robot breaks human half marathon record and makes it look easy
Our phrase of the week is: “in the bag” (探囊取物 tàn náng qǔ wù)
Context
The second Beijing Human and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon took place on April 19 in Yizhuang (亦庄), a district in the southeastern suburbs of the capital.
102 teams competed in the race, with over 300 robots from 26 brands running alongside human competitors on the same course.
The winner was a surprise to many, and a new entrant this year: Lightning (闪电). Built by smartphone manufacturer, Honor (荣耀), Lightening completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, smashing the human world record for that distance, and beating last years’s best time of 2 hours 40 minutes by two thirds.
Second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth places were also taken by Honor-made robots. Which is a stunning achievement considering the firm’s robotics division was only established less than a year ago.
Although Honor’s dominance on the podium did come as a surprise to many, it was not such a shock to the Honor team. They went into the race with confidence as Lightning had already broken the human record in the pre-race dry run, and that wasn’t even at feel speed:
After the robot from Honor shattered human records while “holding back” during pre-race testing…
The team knew the race was in the bag.
在开赛前一周的全要素路测中，荣耀机器人“收着跑”仅发挥七八成功力，就打破了人类最好半马纪录，团队内部当时就觉得，夺冠已是“探囊取物”。
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
“In the bag” is our translation of a classical Chinese idiom which translates directly as “explore” (探 tàn), “pouch” (囊 náng), “take” (取 qǔ), “object” (物 wù).
Literally it means “reaching into a bag to retrieve something”. It describes a task so easy it requires no effort at all.
The phrase originates from the New History of the Five Dynasties (新五代史), a historical text compiled in the 11th century by the Song Dynasty scholar and statesman Ouyang Xiu (欧阳修), one of the most celebrated writers and officials of his era.
The story behind the idiom dates to the Five Dynasties period (907–960 CE), a turbulent era of shifting kingdoms in China. A scholar named Han Xizai (韩熙载) was fleeing the Central Plains after his father was killed by the emperor. Fearing he would meet the same fate he sought refuge in the southern kingdom of Wu.
Han’s close friend Li Gu (李榖) came to see him off at the border. As he departed, Han boasted to his friend, if the kingdom of Wu appointed him as prime minister he would lead troops back north and pacify the Central Plains.
Li Gu replied to his friend with equal confidence:
“Yes, but if the northern states appointed me as their chancellor…
Conquering the southern kingdoms would be as easy as retrieving an item from a pouch.”
中国用吾为相，取江南如探囊中物尔。
Neither man’s ambitions came to pass.
Han Xizai never rose to power in the Kingdom of Wu. Passed over by the court, he retreated into a life of wine and revelry. Li Gu did go on to become a military commander, leading successful campaigns against the southern kingdoms. But chancellor he never became.
The idiom, however, survived them both. Later generations distilled the exchange into the four-character phrase said by Li Gu: “easy as retrieving an item from a pouch” (探囊取物).
In modern Chinese, it’s used to describe any task that feels easy or like a foregone conclusion. Something accomplished with such ease that the outcome was never really in doubt.
In English it can be translated as “a piece of cake”, or “easy as pie”. But in this context we prefer “in the bag” which carries the same meaning in English, and fits with the imagery of the original idiom story.
Which is exactly how Honor’s robotics team felt after Lightning broke the human half-marathon world record in the practice run. For them, winning the race itself the following day was pretty much “in the bag”.
And they were proved right.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource which helps you bridge the gap to real-world fluency in Mandarin, stay informed about China, and communicate with confidence—all through weekly immersion in real news. Subscribe for free here.
Read more about how this story is being discussed in the Chinese media in this week’s RealTime Mandarin.
