zhǐ shàng tán bīng

Translation

  • lit. military tactics on paper (idiom)
  • fig. theoretical discussion that is worse than useless in practice
  • armchair strategist
  • idle theorizing
  • cf Zhao Kuo 趙括|赵括[Zhao4 Kuo4] leading an army of 400,000 to total annihilation at battle of Changping 長平之戰|长平之战[Chang2 ping2 zhi1 Zhan4] in 260 BC

Synonyms

Chinese Tones