管中窺豹

From Shishuo Xinyu, Chapter 5:

王子敬數歲時，嘗看諸門生樗蒲。見有勝負，因曰：“南風不競。”門生輩輕其小兒，迺曰：“此郎亦管中窺豹，時見一斑。”

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王子敬数岁时，尝看诸门生樗蒲。见有胜负，因曰：“南风不竞。”门生辈轻其小儿，乃曰：“此郎亦管中窥豹，时见一斑。”

From: Liu Yiqing (editor), A New Account of the Tales of the World, 5^th century CE

Wáng Zǐjìng shù suì shí, cháng kàn zhū ménshēng chūpú. Jiàn yǒu shèngfù, yīn yuē: “Nánfēng bù jìng.” Ménshēng bèi qīng qí xiǎo'ér, nǎi yuē: “Cǐ láng yì guǎn zhōng kuī bào, shí jiàn yī bān.”

When Wang Hsien-chih was only a few years of age, he was once watching his father's pupils playing chaupar (an ancient game like dice-throwing). Seeing in advance who was going to win or lose, he said, “‘The southern airs can't compete (with the northern).’”! The pupils, belittling him because he was a small boy, then said, “This lad’s another case of someone ‘peeping at a leopard through a tube’; every now and then he sees a spot.”

管中窺豹

1. to see only part of the big picture; to have only a limited view of something