石头蛋腌咸菜，一盐难进石頭蛋醃鹹菜，一鹽難進石頭蛋醃鹹菜，一鹽難進

pickling vegetables in a stone egg: one salt, hard to get in

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning: A matter is so complicated it can't be explained in a few words.
Wordplay: 盐 (yán, salt) puns on 言 (yán, words), and 进 (jìn, go in) puns on 尽 (jìn, exhaust or finish), so 'salt can hardly get in' also reads 'words can hardly say it all'.

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Simplified: 石头蛋腌咸菜，一盐难进
Traditional (Taiwan): 石頭蛋醃鹹菜，一鹽難進
Pinyin: shítou dàn yān xiáncài, yì yán nánjìn
Bopomofo: ㄕˊ ˙ㄊㄡㄉㄢˋ ㄧㄢㄒㄧㄢˊ ㄘㄞˋ，ㄧˋ ㄧㄢˊ ㄋㄢˊ ㄐㄧㄣˋ

Written with HSK 5 vocabulary, at CEFR level B2.

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