a myriad of ants swarm about a piece of meat that smells(qún yǐ fù shān)

a myriad of ants swarm about a piece of meat that smells

The Chinese idiom, Pinyin is Q ú NY ǐ f ù sh ā n, many ants tend to mutton. This is a metaphor for many like-minded people who pursue bad things. From Chuang Tzu Xu Wu GUI.

Idiom usage

As an object or attributive, it refers to people with similar tastes

Examples

The fourth volume of Cheng dengji's "learning from qionglin" in the Ming Dynasty: "despising the masses for profit means that the ants are attached to the sheep; being modest and loving the children means that the old ox licks the calf."

In the epitaph of Ye Sicheng written by Liu Kezhuang in Song Dynasty, it is said that "scholars tend to their door like ants. “

"Yuanlu all return to the banquet, gaokui also admires the smell of mutton," said Han Luo of Tang Dynasty

The history of Ming Dynasty can be traced back to the book "please go to Zheng Bi Bao Ju Shu": "in the past, most of the Bao Ju were Mu Shan, Jie foot fly camp, and real talent wrapped feet."

Xia Xie of the Qing Dynasty wrote in the chronicle of China and the West: the essence and the end of the leak: "the people who smoke and sell can't help but open their eyes to admire the market of the mutton."

Analysis of Idioms

Synonym: go after the crowd

Antonym: clean body and love oneself

Idioms and allusions

origin

Miscellaneous chapters of Zhuangzi Volume 8 Xu Wugui

Shun is the one who makes mistakes. Mutton doesn't admire ants. Ants admire mutton, and mutton stinks. There are ten thousand families in Tang Dynasty. When Yao heard of the sages of Shun and the land of his children, he said, "I hope I can get the glory of his coming." Shun was raised in the land of Tongtu. He was old and weak, but he had no choice but to return. Cheng xuanyingshu, Tang Dynasty: "the mutton of husband is fishy, and he doesn't want to admire ants. Ants smell it and come back.". Shun had benevolence, he did not admire the people, but the people were happy with him. So mutton is better than Shun, ants are better than the common people. 」

Source translation

The so-called hunchback, hard-working people, is like Shun. Mutton does not love ants, ants love mutton, because mutton has a fishy smell. Shun's behavior is fishy, and the people like him very much, so he moved many times from Chengdu. When he went to Deng's abandoned site, he gathered the first 100000 families. Yao learned about Shun's talent and recommended him from the barren land, saying that he hoped that he could give his kindness to the people. Shun was recommended from the barren land. He was getting old, his quick hearing and eyesight had declined, and he could not come back to rest. This is the so-called hunchback and hard-working man.

The origin of Idioms

"Zhuang Zi Xu Wu GUI" said: "mutton does not admire ants, ants admire mutton, mutton is also smelly."

Chinese PinYin : qún yǐ fù shān