1/ 草木皆兵 cǎo mù jiē bīng

"Every bush and tree looks like an enemy" = paranoid

From the longer phrase: 风声鹤唳，草木皆兵 fēng shēng hè lì, cǎo mù jiē bīng.

2/ 风吹草动 fēng chuī cǎo dòng

"Wind blows, grass moves" = there's trouble at the slightest disturbance

3/ 煞有介事 shà yǒu jiè shì

“Make a big fuss about something"

4/ 煞有其事 shà yǒu qí shì

"Make something out of nothing"

Similar to 3 but more common in spoken language

5/ 小题大做 xiǎo tí dà zuò

"Make a big fuss about a small thing"

6/ 小事化大 xiǎo shì huà dà

"Make something small into something big"

Opposite to 大事化小 dà shì huà xiǎo - "covering up important issues"

7/ 无风起浪 wú fēng qǐ làng

"Waves created from nothing" = make a fuss about nothing

Adapted from the phrase 无风不起浪 wú fēng bù qǐ làng = "no waves without wind"

8/ 指鹿为虎 zhǐ lù wéi hǔ

"Pointing at a deer and calling it a tiger" = distorting the facts and having an ulterior motive

New idiom adapted from 指鹿为马 - “pointing at a deer and calling it horse”, which means to distort the facts.

9/ 如临大敌 rú lín dà dí

"Acting as if the archenemy is here"

In summary

1/ 草木皆兵

2/ 风吹草动

3/ 煞有介事

4/ 煞有其事

5/ 小题大做

6/ 小事化大

7/ 无风起浪

8/ 指鹿为虎

9/ 如临大敌

So, how many did you know?

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