Yu (jade) is seen in Chinese culture as the embodiment of virtue. Sharing the same component “王”, a variation of “玉”, scores of Chinese characters about jade including 瑜(yu), 琼(qiong) and璋(zhang) were frequently chosen by Chinese people as their name.

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被褐怀玉
pī hè huái yù

Pi means “to wear” while huai means “to carry.” He refers to coarse clothes that were usually worn by poor people. Yu is the “beauty among stones,” known as jade. This idiom, taken literally, means wearing coarse clothes while carrying jade.

This idiom originates from the Tao Te Ching by Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu said that “Few people understand me. It is upon this very fact that my value depends. It is indeed in this sense that the Sages wear coarse cloth but carry jade underneath.”

 

This idiom is used to say that a person has excellent competence and virtues despite being poor or born in a family of humble background. It is also used to describe a person who chooses not to show off his excellent competence and virtues to the outside world.

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化干戈为玉帛
huà gān gē wéi yù bó

Hua means “to replace.” Gan are shields while ge are ancient weapons with a long shaft and a horizontal blade. Together “gange” means weapons or armed conflicts. Yu refers to jade objects while bo means “silk fabrics,” both of which were used as state gifts in ancient China.

This idiom, taken literally, means to replace such weapons as gan and ge with state gifts such as jade and silk.

The Huainanzi by Liu An in the Han Dynasty said that Emperor Yu destroyed the protective walls, filled the moats, distributed all the property to the people, burnt armor and weapons and adopted benevolent policies. As a result, more than 10,000 small tribes submitted to his authority and presented gifts of jade and silk to him.   
 

This idiom is used to describe to the act of resolving a conflict and establishing a friendly relationship between former rivals.