to hold back from taking action against an evildoer for fear of involving good people(zhì shǔ jì qì)

to hold back from taking action against an evildoer for fear of involving good people

Throwing a rat is a Chinese idiom. The Pinyin is zh ì sh ǔ J ì Q ì, which means throwing a rat. If you want to beat a mouse with something, you are afraid of damaging the nearby utensils. It means to have scruples and dare not let go. It comes from the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu and Yuan Shaochuan.

Idiom explanation

It's a taboo.

The origin of Idioms

In the history of the Three Kingdoms · Wei Shu · yuan Shaochuan: "Zhuo sent Hu Mu ban, who was in charge of Jinwu, to be a great craftsman. Wu Xiufu issued an imperial edict to Yu Shao, and Shao sent Wang Kuang Shazhi, the prefect of Hanoi." Pei Songzhi quoted Wu Xie Cheng's later Han Shu: "ban and Kuang Shuyun:" the biography of Liu Xiang said: throwing a rat and forbidding a weapon. Kuang Zhuo is now in the palace, with the emperor as the fan screen.

Idiom story

At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty went hunting with his Prime Minister Cao Cao and his uncle Liu Bei. In order to show his power, Cao Cao went hand in hand with Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty. When Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty saw a rabbit not far away, he asked Liu Bei to shoot, saying that he wanted to see Uncle Huang's arrow technique. Liu Bei bent his bow to shoot an arrow and hit the rabbit. Emperor Xian praised his arrow technique. When Xiandi saw a big deer again, he shot three arrows in a row, so he told Cao Cao to shoot. Cao Cao took Xiandi's Jinbi arrow and hit the deer with one arrow. When the soldiers saw that the arrow that hit the deer was Jinbi's arrow, they thought it was from Xiandi. They all cried "long live", and Cao Cao stood in front of Xiandi and cheered. Guan Yunchang really can't stand it. He wants to cut Cao Cao with a machete. Liu Bei suggests that he should not act rashly. Afterwards, Guan Yunchang asked Liu Bei why he didn't let him kill Cao Cao. He said, "there's a sacrificial emperor around him (from the 20th chapter of the romance of the Three Kingdoms) there is a story in the book of Han: there is a rich man who likes antiques very much and collects a lot of them. One of them is a rare jade bowl with exquisite workmanship and high historical value, which is deeply loved by the rich man. One night, a mouse jumped into the jade bowl and wanted to eat some leftovers. It happened that the rich man saw it. He was very angry. In his anger, he took a stone and hit the mouse. Of course, the mouse was killed, but the precious jade bowl was also broken. This made the rich man very sad. He deeply regretted the irreparable loss caused by his recklessness. He realized that only considering the immediate and ignoring the consequences would bring him incalculable losses. (from biography of Jia Yi in Hanshu)

Idiom usage

Used as an object or attribute; used in dealing with affairs. example throw a rat's taboo, hold a doubt, and feed the tiger to cut the meat. Lin Xu's poem "the number of visits to Fu Mo Temple by Shu Qiao Yin Bo" in Qing Dynasty. Lin Xu's poem "the number of visits to Fu Mo Temple by Shu Qiao Yin Bo" in Qing Dynasty.

Analysis of Idioms

A synonym: a rat in the dark

Chinese PinYin : zhì shǔ jì qì