Chinese Idiom: “Playing the lute for a cow” (对牛弹琴; duì niú dán qín)

Meaning: To explain something to someone who is unwilling or unable to understand.

A renowned musician decided to play the lute for a grazing cow, hoping to delight it with exquisite music. His performance was so beautiful that he himself became immersed in the enchanting sounds of his lute. However, the cow showed absolutely no interest in the music – it simply continued to graze. The musician was stunned! What was wrong with this cow? How could it fail to appreciate such elegant music?

But the problem wasn’t that he was playing badly, but rather that the cow simply didn’t understand music and couldn’t appreciate it.

The idiom is most often used in everyday speech, arguments, criticism, and even humor, when the speaker wants to emphasize the futility of explanations.

This is the state of current diplomacy.