Chinese Chengyu – 招兵买马 – To recruit soldiers and buy horses Chinese chengyu 招兵买马 (zhāo bīng mǎi mǎ) breaks down to into recruit (招zhāo ) soldiers (兵bīng) buy (买mǎi) horses (马 mǎ). This is translated into  English as ‘recruit soldiers, buy horses.” You can take this chéngyǔ at face value since the meaning is essential “to raise a[…]