lit. pull one hair and the whole body moves / fig. a slight change will affect everything else / the butterfly effect
庄周梦蝶
zhuāng zhōu mèng dié
Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3] dreams of a butterfly (or is it the butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi?)
破茧成蝶
pò jiǎn chéng dié
lit. to break through a cocoon and turn into a butterfly (idiom) / fig. to emerge strong after a period of struggle / to get to a better place after going through difficult period
梁山伯与祝英台
Liáng Shān bó yǔ Zhù Yīng tái
The Butterfly Lovers, Chinese folktale of the tragic love between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai
燕尾蝶
yān wěi dié
swallow tail butterfly (family Papilionidae)
破蛹
pò yǒng
to emerge from a pupa (of a butterfly etc)
蝴蝶效应
hú dié xiào yìng
butterfly effect (dynamical systems theory)
鸳鸯蝴蝶
yuān yang hú dié
Mandarin ducks and butterfly (i.e. love birds) / derogatory reference to populist and romantic writing around 1900
鸳鸯蝴蝶派
yuān yang hú dié pài
Mandarin ducks and butterfly (i.e. love birds) literary school around 1900, criticized as populist and romantic by socialist realists
dié