Tian Gao Huang-di Yuan

Origin: Mandarin Chinese

Literal meaning: Heaven Tall Emperor Far

Better translation: Heaven is high, and the emperor is far away.

Commentary: This phrase seems to be a Mandarin variation on "when the cat's away, the mice will play"--Beijing has historically had great difficulty keeping the provinces in line, and very often local officials, often called Mandarins in the days of the Qing dynasty, were able to wrest control away from Beijing and administrate according to their own whims. These days, Chinese folks use the phrase to express a kind of gleeful subversion of any authority figure.

Alternative

"Shan_Gao_Huang-di_Yuan", meaning, "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away." [See Absurdfool's comment in the discussion at [http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/05/the_mountains_a.html] ]

References