Abstract: The negator bu (not) in Chinese originally could not directly negate jianyi (propose), forming a bu jianyi expression. But around the time of May 4th Movement, there appeared the expression “bu jianyi + VP” in Chinese. It is analysed in this paper that the expression resulted from the Chinese-English contact at the end of the Qing Dynasty and in the early years of the Republic of China. Since the expression “bu jianyi + VP” has such pragmatic functions as of euphemism and leeway, it does have its own value of existence in Chinese.