画龙点睛 translates literally, "draw a dragon, put in pupil". It means to add finishing touches to a project.
(Continued from part 1 of 画龙点睛 ”Draw a dragon, put in pupils“)
No one took his remarks seriously and as time passed by, people thought he was lying. So he had no choice and painted pupils into the eyes of two of the dragons.
As soon as he finished with the second dragon, something peculiar started to happen. Dark ominous clouds formed in the sky and a strong wind blew. There was thunder and lightning!
With a flash of lightning, people saw that two dragons shattered the wall, emerged, rising into the air. They displayed their fierce teeth and sharp claws, then got on the clouds and ascended into the heavens.
Zhang Sengyao was true to his word, he added pupils to the eyes of the dragons and they indeed flew away, yet the dragons without the pupils remained on the wall.
The idiom 画龙点睛 ”draw a dragon, put in pupils” could be translated “finishing touch” in English. In Chinese it describes a key or emphatic phrase to a speech or in writing to drive home a point, giving the work more power.
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