find it hard to clear oneself(tiào dào huáng hé xǐ bù qīng)

find it hard to clear oneself

Jumping into the Yellow River is a well-known saying, which means it is difficult to get rid of the relationship and avoid suspicion.

The origin of Idioms

Yao xueyin's Li Zicheng, Vol. 3, chapter 42: "I'm not worried that he will be left in the thief camp. I'm worried that he will bring two letters from blind Li and your sister to me. Maybe there are some valuable gifts. When he comes back, he will be caught by the riders of Ding and Yang Er Ying, which will make me jump into the Yellow River. How can I not be wronged?"

explain

"Jumping into the Yellow River is not clear" (sometimes also referred to as "jumping in / into / down the Yellow River is not clear"), can be said to be a well-known saying, metaphor is difficult to get rid of the relationship, avoid suspicion. For example: the 22nd chapter of Qing Wenkang's biography of children's Heroes: "my heart story, he Yufeng, is about to be broken and no one believes it. I can't wash it when I jump in the Yellow River, but my identity as he Yufeng is over." When you think about it, it's quite unreasonable. As we all know, the water of the Yellow River is much more turbid than that of other rivers due to its high sediment content. The ancients once regarded the Yellow River clear as a once-in-a-lifetime event, and said that "the river is clear and the sage comes out". How can someone jump in to wash the muddy water like this? Therefore, "jumping to the Yellow River is not clear" is really puzzling. In fact, the "original ecology" of this saying is a allegorical saying: jump to the Yellow River - it's hard to wash. In this way, it must be clear in everyone's mind: because the Yellow River water is very turbid, it is difficult to wash the dirt on the body when you jump in. Later, I don't know when, people removed the pause between "jump to the Yellow River" and "wash not clear" in this allegorical saying, and added the word "Ye" in vain, making its meaning very different from the original meaning. Now the saying "jumping into the Yellow River is not clear" has become the "legitimate version", while the allegorical saying "jumping into the Yellow River is not clear" is rarely known. The author has examined dozens of documentary evidences, all of which are written as "jumping into (or into) the Yellow River is not clear", and none of them is used as "jumping into the Yellow River is not clear". The power of convention can be seen from this.

Chinese PinYin : tiào dào huáng hé xǐ bù qīng