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投鼠忌器 (tou2 shu3 ji4 qi4) Spare a rat for a vase
October 11, 2009, Sunday
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THE Chinese idiom "tou2 shu3 ji4 qi4" or "hesitate before pelting a rat for fear of smashing the vase beside it" is nearly the equivalent of the English saying, "burn not your house to rid it of the mouse."
In the Chinese expression, the rat originally meant not the rodent people usually think of, but the nobles in the imperial court.
The saying was first quoted in an essay "On Government," written by Jia Yi, a famous thinker and writer in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24).
This essay, presented to the emperor of that time by the scholar, touched upon wide-ranging issues on how to rule the country.
In one section, Jia suggested the imperial court adopt a system of feudal rites to consolidate the regime.
Actually, this system meant treating the common people and the nobles according to double standards.
Jia said in the essay that severe punishment should be meted out to ordinary people who violate feudal rites.
The corporal punishment suggested by the writer included tattooing one's face with insulting words, cutting off one's nose, chopping off the feet and flogging.
However, these punishments should never be applied to nobles who had violated feudal rites, even though the emperor might order them to be killed.
Jia explained this was because nobles were a special group of people who were very close to the ruler.
If they were punished in the same way as the common people, it would be an insult to the imperial court and damage the image of the emperor.
To illustrate his point, the writer said: "You should have scruples in pelting a rat for fear of smashing the vase beside it."
The system of feudal rites proposed by Jia ended early last century when the last emperor was dethroned by a revolution, but his expression about the rat is still in use today.
People now use this saying to describe anyone who hesitates to take action for fear of hurting innocent people or damaging valuable things.
In the Chinese expression, the rat originally meant not the rodent people usually think of, but the nobles in the imperial court.
The saying was first quoted in an essay "On Government," written by Jia Yi, a famous thinker and writer in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24).
This essay, presented to the emperor of that time by the scholar, touched upon wide-ranging issues on how to rule the country.
In one section, Jia suggested the imperial court adopt a system of feudal rites to consolidate the regime.
Actually, this system meant treating the common people and the nobles according to double standards.
Jia said in the essay that severe punishment should be meted out to ordinary people who violate feudal rites.
The corporal punishment suggested by the writer included tattooing one's face with insulting words, cutting off one's nose, chopping off the feet and flogging.
However, these punishments should never be applied to nobles who had violated feudal rites, even though the emperor might order them to be killed.
Jia explained this was because nobles were a special group of people who were very close to the ruler.
If they were punished in the same way as the common people, it would be an insult to the imperial court and damage the image of the emperor.
To illustrate his point, the writer said: "You should have scruples in pelting a rat for fear of smashing the vase beside it."
The system of feudal rites proposed by Jia ended early last century when the last emperor was dethroned by a revolution, but his expression about the rat is still in use today.
People now use this saying to describe anyone who hesitates to take action for fear of hurting innocent people or damaging valuable things.
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