虎头蛇尾
Strong start, weak finish
A breakdown of the characters in 虎头蛇尾(hǔ tóu shé wěi):
虎(hǔ): tiger
头(tóu): head
蛇(shé): snake
尾(wěi): tail
We all know the tale of the rabbit, bursting out of the gate, but running at an unsustainable pace.
For something that feels very anticlimactic, with a strong start, but weak nish, use 虎头蛇尾 (hǔ tóu shé wěi).
虎头蛇尾 literally means a “tiger head” and “snake tail,” and means that you start o strong, but nish weak.
之前在中国市场虎头蛇尾的几次突围，让现代倍感受挫
zhīqián zài zhōngguó shìchǎng hǔtóushéwěi de jǐcì tūwéi, ràng xiàndài bèigǎn shòucuò
The several previous strong breakthroughs of the Chinese market, makes us feel several times more frustrated.
“影片的形式大于内容，故事明显偏弱，结局虎头蛇尾令人感觉遗憾”
“yǐngpiàn de xíngshì dàyú nèiróng, gùshì míngxiǎn piān ruò, jiéjú hǔtóushéwěi lìngrén gǎnjué yíhàn”
“The form of the movie is bigger than the content - the plot is clearly weak. The strong start but weak ending is disappointing.”
“和小德、纳达尔虎头蛇尾的表现相 反，费德勒在赛季尾声找到手感”
“hé xiǎodé, nàdáěr hǔtóushéwěi de biǎoxiàn xiāngfǎn, fèidélè zài sàijì wěishēng zhǎodào shǒugǎn”
“Contrary to the strong-start-but-poor- nish performance of Nadal and and Djokovic, Federer found his touch at the end of the season”
“一项为民办实事工程，办得如此虎头 蛇尾，实在令人失望”
“yī xiàng wèimín bàn shíshì gōngchéng, bàn de rúcǐ hǔtóushéwěi, shízài lìngrén shīwàng”
“A project done for the people, with a strong start and a weak nish like this - is truly disappointing.”