两张皮

兩張皮

liǎngzhāngpí

phrase

Meanings

1 (metaphor) two disconnected layers
2 saying one thing and doing another
3 theory and practice not matching

Characters

(measure word for flat sheets)

Examples

政策和执行不能成为两张皮。

Zhèngcè hé zhíxíng bù néng chéngwéi liǎngzhāngpí.

Policy and implementation must not become two disconnected layers.

学习和工作如果是两张皮，培训就没意义了。

Xuéxí hé gōngzuò rúguǒ shì liǎngzhāngpí, péixùn jiù méi yìyì le.

If study and work are two unrelated things, the training is meaningless.

Tips

usage

A staple of Chinese bureaucratic and political language, especially in Party documents and official speeches. Criticizing something as 两张皮 means that two things which should be integrated — policy and execution, theory and reality, inspection and rectification — are actually operating as separate, disconnected layers. Rarely used in casual conversation.

register

Heavily associated with officialese (官话) and work reports (工作报告). Using it in everyday speech can sound pretentious or parody-like.

Stroke Order

两 liǎng

张 zhāng

皮 pí