iron hand in a velvet glove(gāng zhōng róu wài)

iron hand in a velvet glove

Rigid in the soft outside is a Chinese word, pronunciation is g਑ngzh ō NgR ó UW à I, refers to the person's soft outside but hard inside character.

Definition: rigid, strong; middle: inner, inner; soft: weak, soft. The surface is smooth and the inside is strong. it comes from "thirty six stratagems, hidden sword in a smile": "believe in it and keep it safe, use Yin to draw it, prepare for it and then move it. Don't make it change. It's hard in the middle and soft in the outside." used as attributive and adverbial; refers to personality

Chinese PinYin : gāng zhōng róu wài