to aspire to the throne / to aim at (the first place etc)
瞒天过海
mán tiān guò hǎi
to cross the sea by a trick (idiom) / to achieve one's aim by underhanded means
鸿门宴
Hóng mén Yàn
Hongmen feast / (fig.) banquet set up with the aim of murdering a guest / refers to a famous episode in 206 BC when future Han emperor Liu Bang 劉邦|刘邦[Liu2 Bang1] escaped attempted murder by his rival Xiang Yu 項羽|项羽[Xiang4 Yu3]
扑空
pū kōng
lit. to rush at thin air / fig. to miss one's aim / to have nothing to show for one's troubles
水滴石穿
shuǐ dī shí chuān
dripping water penetrates the stone (idiom) / constant perseverance yields success / You can achieve your aim if you try hard without giving up. / Persistent effort overcomes any difficulty.
滴水穿石
dī shuǐ chuān shí
dripping water penetrates the stone (idiom) / constant perseverance yields success / You can achieve your aim if you try hard without giving up. / Persistent effort overcomes any difficulty.
to shoot without aim (idiom) / fig. to speak without thinking / firing blindly / to shoot in the air / a shot in the dark
刻鹄类鹜
kè hú lèi wù
to aim to carve a swan and get a semblance of a duck (idiom) / to fail utterly in trying to copy something / to get a reasonably good, if not perfect, result
dripping water penetrates the stone (idiom) / constant perseverance yields success / You can achieve your aim if you try hard without giving up. / Persistent effort overcomes any difficulty.
dì