山中無老虎, 猴子稱大王。

When the landlord's away, the tenants will play.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

=1 山 Shān surname Shan
=1 山 shān (coll.) small bundle of straw for silkworms to spin cocoons on

classifier: 座
=2 中 Zhōng
  1. (bound form) China; Chinese
  2. surname Zhong
=2 中 zhōng
  1. within; among; in
  2. middle; center
  3. while (doing sth); during
  4. (dialect) OK; all right
=2 中 zhòng
  1. to hit (a target)
  2. to be struck by (a bullet, illness etc)
  3. to win (a prize or lottery)
=3 無 mó used in 南无 nāmó
=3 無 wú
  1. not to have
  2. no
  3. none
  4. not
  5. to lack
  6. un-
  7. -less
4 老虎 lǎohǔ tiger

classifier: 隻
5 猴子 hóuzi monkey

classifier: 隻
6 稱大 chēngdà to put on airs; to give oneself airs
=7 王 Wáng surname Wang
=7 王 wáng
  1. king or monarch
  2. best or strongest of its type
  3. grand
  4. great
=7 王 wàng (literary) (of a monarch) to reign over (a kingdom)