Posted 2017/6/19
"Baocang Huoxin" is a Chinese idiom that means "hide a malicious intent". "Baocang" means "hide" or "contain", while "huoxin" means "evil intention".
This idiom is from a story in Zuo Zhuan (Annals of Zuo): during the Spring and Autumn Period, the King of the Zheng State (a state situated to the north of the Chu State) planned to marry off a minister's daughter to Wei, the son of a general of the Chu State, in an effort to build good ties with the Chu State through the marriage. To everyone's surprise, the Chu State was trying to send troops along with the wedding procession to the Zheng State to destroy it.
The Zheng State, however, saw through the Chu State's evil intention and sent an envoy to decline the wedding procession out of the city. He said to them: "We arranged the marriage hoping that a big country like yours could protect our small country, but you have sinister motives to wipe us out. We could never tolerate your hidden malicious intent!" Seeing that the plot was uncovered, Wei realized that the Zheng State might be in good defense and gave up the attacking plot.
