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In Chinese, "throwing a brick to attract jade" means

I offer a humble remark, please give us your valued opinion.

See here for the full explanation. Are there any English equivalents to this?

In Chinese, "throwing a brick to attract jade" is not limited to the remarks and opinions. Sometimes people say "throwing a brick to attract jade" to mean "I want to do A to encourage more people to do A and do better in A".

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    People will often say, “I’m just throwing this out there to get the conversation started.”
    – Jim
    Jun 20, 2016 at 4:17
  • On online forums, you can indicate that you are not on a par with the people you are joining in with by saying "just a question from the peanut gallery" or "just a question from the cheap seats". It implies you aren't planning to get deeply involved in the discussion, but would appreciate an answer. Your second usage sounds a bit like "priming the pump"
    – Phil Sweet
    Jun 20, 2016 at 5:00

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I'm not fully sure I understand the Chinese proverb, but "I want to do A to encourage more people to do A and do better in A" leads me to the English phrase 

Let me get the ball rolling

which roughly means "let me make a feeble or modest effort to encourage other people to participate in a bigger way."

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