Kindly Step into the Vat Try What You Have Devised against Others

In order to suppress those who were against her, Wu Zetian, the empress of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), appointed a few merciless persons to be judges. Two of them were extremely brutal : one was called Zhou Xing and the other was called Lai Junchen. They killed many upright civil and military officials as well as ordinary people by framing up cases against them and by administering in human corporal punishment to them.

Once, Wu Zetian received a letter which informed against ZhouXing. The letter aside that Zhou Xing was plotting a rebellion in collaboration with others. Wu Zetian was furiously angry when she read the letter, and immediately ordered Lai junchen to deal with the case severely. Hearing the order, Lai junchen had misgivings about it. He knew that Zhou Xing could not be forsed to tell the truth merely by using a letter informing against him because he was very sly and crafty. Lai junchen also knew that the would not be for given if he should fail in dealing with the case, because the empress would certainly blame him and punish him. How could he solve the problem then ? He turned the problem over and over in his mind, and finally thought out a “brilliant scheme”

Lai junchen had a sumptuous feast prepared, and invited Zhou Xing to this home, The two of them urged eash other to drink, and they talked while drinking. After the wine had gone round three times. Lai junchen pretended to sigh. “When I handle case in ordinary times. I oven com across prisoners who stubbornly refuse to admit they are guilty. I wonder if you have any effective measures. “Hearing this, he to.ok a sip of the wine. Lai junchen immediately pretended to be very earnest, saying. “Oh, please do tell me at once.” Smilling insidiously. Zhou Xing said.”Get a big vat, scorch it hot with charcoal fire all around, and then let the prisoner come into the vat. Will the prisoner fail to make aconfession of his crime?”

Hearing this. Lai junchen nodded his head in approval repeatedly. He then ordered his subordinates to bring abig vat, and had a charcoal fire lit all around it as Zhou Xing had said. He then turned to Zhou Xing and said “ Someone in the imperial court has informed against you, saying that you are plotting a rebellion. The empress has ordered me to deal with the case severely. So I beg your pardon, but would you kindly step into the vat? “Hearing this, Zhou Xing dropped his wine cup to the ground and the cup broke with a crash. Then he knelt down with a flop, nodded repeatedly and said.”I am guilty. I confess I am guilty.”

This story appears in A General History as a Mirror of Past Events by Sima Guang of the song Dynasty. From this story, people have derived the set phrase “Kindly step into the vat-try what you have devised against others”.

Overwhelming Popularity of a New Work Causes Shortage of Printing Paper

In the Jin Dynasty (265-420) there was a famous writer whose name was Zuo Si who, however, was very naughty and did not like to study when he was a small kid. His father often got angry, and yet young Zuo Si was as naughty as ever and would not study hard.

One day Zuo Si’s father was chatting with his friends. His friends envied him his clever and lovely son. Hearing this.Zuo si’s father sighed.”Please do not mention him. My son Zuo is does not study as well as I did when I was young, although I did not study well enough myself. It appears that he is actually a good for nothing.”So saying, he looked disappointed. Ali this was witnessed by young Zuo Si. He felt very sad, feeling intensely that he would not be able to have a bright future if he did not study hard. So he was determined to study assiduously from then on. Day after day and year after year, Zuo Si gradually grew up. Because of this unremitting efforts in hard study, he became an erudite scholar and wrote very excellent essays. The “Ode to the capital of the state of Qi”, which took him one year to write, showed his brilliant literary talent and laid the foundation for his becoming an an outstanding writer. Then he planned to write an “Ode to the capitals of the Three Kingdom of Wei, Shu Han and Wu” with the local conditions and customs as well as the produce of the three capitals as its content in order to achieve the desired effect in content, structure and language, he applied himself to research work with great concentration and was so absorbed in creative writing as to forget food and sleep. It took him ten whole years to finish the writing of “Ode to the capitals of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han and Wu” , a literary masterpiece.

The Ode to the capitals of the Three Kingdom of Wei, Shu Han and Wu” was well received by the broad masses of readers after it made its appearance to the public and people considered it as superbly written as the “Odo to the western capital (Changan) and to the Eastern Capital (Luoyang) “written by Ban Gu (32-92) and the “Ode to the Western Capital and to the Eastern Capital” written by Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.to A.D.220). As the art of printing had not been invented at the time, people who were fond of this “Ode” had to make handwritten copies of it themselves . As there were so many people who vied with each other in making handwritten copies, the supply of writing paper fell shorts of the demand in Luoyang went up greatly.

This story comes from “The life of Zuo Si” in the book “Literary Flied” of The History of the Jin Dynasty. Based on this story , people have coined the sec phrase “ the price of writing paper went up greatly , meaning the overwhelming popularity of a new work causes shortage of printing paper, to show how popular an outsanding piece of literarywork is.

Calling a Stag a Horse

In the reign of Emperor the second of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), the prime minister Zhao Gao, obsessed with ambitions, was planning to usurp the throne day and night. But he did not know how many of the ministers in the court were allowed to be ordered about by him and how many of them were his opponents. So he thought out a way to test how high his prestige among the ministers was and also to find out who dared to oppose him. One day when court was held. Zhao Gao let someone bring a stag to the court and, with a broad smile on his face, he said to Emperor the Second of the Qin Dynasty :”Your Majesty, here is a fine horse I’m presenting to you.”

Looking at the animal, Emperor the Second thought that is was obviously a stag and that it couldn’t be a horse. So he said smilingly to Zhao Gao:”Mister Prime Minister, you are wrong. This is a stay. Why do you say it is a horse?”Remaining calm, Zhao Gao said : “Will your Majesty please see more clearly? This really is a horse that covers a thousand li a day. “Filled with suspicion, Emperor the second looked at the stag again and said. “How can the antlers be grown on the head of a horse/”Turning around and pointing his finger at the ministers. Zhao Gao said in a loud voice :” If our Majesty do not belive me, you can ask the ministers.”

The nonsense of Zhao Gao made the ministers totally at a lose, and they whispered to themselves: What tricks was Zhao Gao playing? Was it not obvious whether it was a stag or a horse? But when they saw the sinister smile on Zhao Gao’s face and his two rolling eyes which were gazing at each of them, they suddenly understood his evil intentions. Some of the ministers who were timid and yet had a sense of rightousness did not dare to say anything, because to tell lies would make their conscience uneasy and to tell the truth would mean that they would be persecuted by Zhao Gao later.

Some ministers with a sense of justice persisted that it was a stag and not a horse. The were still some crafty and fawning ministers who followed Zhao Gao closely in ordinary times. They immediately voiced their support to Zhao Gao, saying to the emperor:”This really in a horse that covers a thousand li a day.” After the event, Zhao Gao punished by various means those ministers with a sense of justice who were not obedient to him, even with whole families of some of those ministers executed. This story appears in “The life of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty” in The Historical Records written by Sima Qian. From this story people have derived the set phrase “calling a stag a horse” to mean deliberately misrepresenting some thing and misleading the public.

Aim south while driving northward

A certain northern traveler intended to travel to Chu. He started his journey on horseback by the foot of the Tai Hang Mountain by a way leading north. His friend was very surprised so he asked : “ Chu is situated in the south so why you northward instead of going southward ? “

“Never mind”, the traveler replied obstinately, “my horse is a good steed. It runs very fast.”

“No matter how fast it runs,” said his friend,”you can never reach Chu by going northward.”

“I have prepared sufficient traveler expenses.” replied the traveler. “Sufficient traveling expenses can help you neither.”continued his friend.

“Well,” answered the traveler still more obstinately.”I have a strong and capable groom at my services.”

“No groom, how capable and strong he may be, can be of any use to you if you stick to going northward.”Concluded his friend. The traceler did not listen to his friend and so never reached Chu. ( “zhanguoce”)