Tā de jiǎnlì huālihúshào, dàn shízhì nèiróng hěn shǎo.
His resume is flashy but the substance is thin.
Tips
history
Found in Wu Jingzi's 吴敬梓 《儒林外史》 (Qing-era satire The Scholars), Chapter 29: 花里胡哨的 describes a desk piled with garishly printed exam essays. The idiom has carried that 'showy but shallow' edge ever since.
register
Always negative — used to mock something visually busy but lacking real value. The 里 here is read with neutral tone (li), and 哨 is shào, both irregular pronunciations worth memorizing.
