What do you mean, it's better to give charcoal in the snow than to add icing on the cake?

It is better to give charcoal in the snow than to add icing on the cake: it is better to congratulate others when they are in prosperity than to help them when they are in trouble.

Sentence: Why are you doing this? He is in power now. What did you do in the early days? You didn't send a gift long ago, but now you do. You know, giving charcoal in the snow is better than icing on the cake.

"icing on the cake" is an idiom in China. Its pronunciation is jǐn shàng tiān huā, and its definition is to embroider on a cake. This can be compared to adding color to a beauty. Extended to further improve on the basis of the original results.

Giving charcoal in the snow is an idiom in China, pronounced as Xu Xu ZH not ng sê ng tà n, which means giving charcoal to people to keep warm in snowy days, so as to give them material or spiritual help in time when others are in urgent need.