Ever forget the words to your national anthem, so you stand there moving your mouth around so no one can tell you're not really singing? That's 滥竽充数 right there, my friend.<!--more-->
 
Let's take a look at the character breakdown we've got here: 

[pinyin]lan4[/pinyin] - Indiscriminately (without qualification)
[pinyin]yu2[/pinyin] - An ancient wind instrument
[pinyin]chong1[/pinyin] - To fill in for, to fill out
[pinyin]shu4[/pinyin] - Numbers

Taken together, the idiom means "to be a faker hiding amongst people with actual talent." Why these four characters? Doesn't really make a lot of sense until you read the story, but you'll get it afterwards. I don't wanna spoil the read, just like, have a look. 

<h3>Usage Examples</h3>
You'll often hear this idiom used as a way to politely make less of one's own talents, or to humbly respond to flattery. In English, 滥竽充数 might crop up in a conversation like these:

A: You're really great at your job. 
B: Not at all, I'm just <strong>a talentless hack concealed amongst masters</strong>. 

Or 

A: That guy sure can play ball. 
B: Please, he's just there to <strong>fill out the team</strong>.  

Here are some example usages in Chinese:

老师让我们背诵课文，总有些同学滥竽充数。
<em>"The teacher asked us to recite the text, but there's always some students pretending to mouth along with the rest of us."</em>

我从来不滥竽充数，总是认认真真做事。
<em>I've never just dialed it in, I always diligently handle my affairs. </em>

<h3>竽 － Reed organs for [pinyin]yu2[/pinyin] and me</h3>
Sooo, they had a lot of weird musical instruments in ancient China. This one, the [pinyin]yu2[/pinyin], was kind of like a set of panpipes. 



<hr />

[one_half]
<div class="chinesetext">
<h3>Chinese text:</h3>
1) 据《韩非子》记载，齐宣王爱听吹竽，又好<strong>讲排场</strong>。为他吹竽的就有三百人。他常常叫这三百人一起吹竽给他听。有个南郭先生，根本就不会吹竽，看到这个机会，就到齐宣王那里去，请求参加这个吹竽队。齐宣王就把他编在吹竽队里，并且给他很高的薪水。这位根本不会吹竽的南郭先生，每逢吹竽，就混在队里，拿着竽装腔作势。这样一天天混过去，不曾被人发现。

2) 等到齐宣王死了，齐泯王接替王位。他和齐宣王不同，不喜欢听大家一起吹竽，而是喜欢叫吹竽的人一个一个地来吹给他听。南郭先生听到这个消息，只好逃之夭夭，不敢再冒充吹竽人了。

3)【释读】

4) 西方谚语说，你可以在某时欺骗某一些人，却不能一直欺骗所有的人。南郭先生不会吹竽硬装做会吹竽，终有露出马脚之时。
　　
<a href="http://www.hzqsn.com/html/main/cygsview/20070710116407.html" target="_blank">See the source</a>
</div>
[/one_half]

[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink="SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION"]
1) As recorded in the "Han Feizi", King Xuan of Qi loved to listen to the <em>yu</em>, and enjoyed a good show of ostentation. 300 people played the <em>yu</em> for him. He often called for these 300 people to play together for his listening enjoyment. [Amongst them] was a Mr. Nanguo, who couldn't play the yu at all, but he saw an opportunity, and went to the king asking to be allowed to play yu with the group. The king placed him in with the <em>yu</em> players, and gave him a high salary. So this Mr. Nanguo who couldn't play the <em>yu</em> at all, whenever he was made to perform, simply mixed in with the group and pretended to play along. This way the days passed, and no one found him out. 

2) One day King Xuan of Qi died, and King Min of Qi succeeded him on the throne. Unlike King Xuan, King Qi didn't like to listen to everyone playing the yu at the same time, but rather preferred to hear players perform one by one. Mr. Nanguo heard this news, and had no choice but to make a getaway, not daring to keep posing at a <em>yu</em> player.  

3)【Explanation of the Reading】

4) A western proverb states, "you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time". Mr. Nanguo couldn't play the <em>yu</em> but pretended to do so, and was unmasked in the end. 
　　
[/hide-this-part][/one_half]
