DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ali Baba's treasure cave, double-edged sword, vast ocean, isolated creeks, dark room, express train ...

In the snow-clad, star-studded Alpine town of Davos, Chinese President Xi Jinping has once again proved that he merits another title: master of metaphors.

In the first appearance of any Chinese head of state at the World Economic Forum, Xi delivered a vivid speech at the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting and employed a trove of similes and metaphors to make his points on globalization, world economy, trade protectionism, China's development and other subjects.

Here are just a few of them.

The treasure cave found by Ali Baba and the Pandora's Box

"Some people blame economic globalization for the chaos in the world. Economic globalization was once viewed as the treasure cave found by Ali Baba in The Arabian Nights, but now it has become the Pandora' s Box in the eyes of many."

The double-edged sword and the cake

"We should also recognize that economic globalization is a double-edged sword. When the global economy is under downward pressure, it is hard for us to make the cake of the global economy bigger."

Honey melons and bitter vines

"As a line in an old Chinese poem goes, 'Honey melons hang from bitter vines; sweet dates grow on thistles and thorns.' In a philosophical sense, nothing is perfect in the world."

The vast ocean of the global market

"We came to the conclusion that integration into the global economy is a historical trend. To grow its economy, China must have the courage to swim in the vast ocean of the global market. If one is always afraid of bracing the storm and exploring the new world, he will sooner or later get drowned in the ocean. Therefore, China took a brave step to embrace the global market. We have had our fair share of choking in the water and encountered whirlpools and choppy waves, but we have learned how to swim in this process. It has proved to be a right strategic choice."

Isolated lakes and creeks

"Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from. Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies, and channel the waters in the ocean back into isolated lakes and creeks is simply not possible. Indeed, it runs counter to the historical trend."

Lock oneself in a dark room

"Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, that dark room will also block light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war."

The express train of China's development

"We are not jealous of others' success; and we will not complain about others who have benefited so much from the great opportunities presented by China's development. We will open our arms to the people of other countries and welcome them aboard the express train of China's development."