Meaning:

“神仙” means “gods and fairies,” and “打

架” means to “fight.” There has long existed a colloquial saying in Chinese that goes “神仙打架凡人遭殃” (literally, “a fight between gods leads to the suffering of mortal beings”), often used when innocent people become victims. However, Chinese netizens have given a new meaning to the first half of the old saying. They use the phrase to refer to a game played by top gamers, a contest show attended by very capable contestants, or a general situation where bigshots or top companies get into a fight.

Example:

A: 周五湖南卫视的《歌手》你看了吗？

Zhōuwǔ húnán wèishì de 《gēshǒu 》nǐ kàn le ma？

Did you watch Hunan TV’s new season of “Singer” on Friday?

B: 没有。怎么了？

Méiyǒu。Zěnme le？

No. What’s up?

A: 刘欢、齐豫都来了，真是神仙打架。

Liúhuān、qíyù dōu lái le，zhēnshì shénxiān dǎjià。

It’s a face-off between pop music heavyweights; even Liu Huan and Chyi Yu were on the show.