Steal the bell and hide the ear(dào zhōng yǎn ěr)

Steal the bell and hide the ear

The Chinese idiom, Pinyin is d à ozh à ngy à n à R, which means self deception. It comes from the spring and Autumn Annals of the Lu family.

Analysis of Idioms

Stealing: stealing Bell: an ancient musical instrument. Cover your ears when you steal the clock. It's a metaphor for self deception.

The origin of Idioms

The spring and Autumn Annals of the Lu family written by Wei LV Buwei in the Warring States Period: if the people want to bear the bell, they can't bear it. To destroy the vertebrae, the bell has a sound. I'm afraid that people will hear about it and take it away from me.

Idiom usage

I've been deceiving myself and others. I've been deceiving myself and others. (on Ai Di Ji in the old book of Tang Dynasty)

Idioms and allusions

Once upon a time, there was a man who found a big copper bell hanging in front of other people's house. He wanted to steal it, but he couldn't move it alone. He wanted to break it up and sell broken copper. He was worried that others would hear the sound when the bell rang. Later, he finally came up with a wonderful idea, that is, to use cotton to plug his ears, can not hear the sound of his own bell, and then steal the clock. He was caught in the act of stealing.

Chinese PinYin : dào zhōng yǎn ěr