📖 Meaning
To eradicate violence and tyranny while protecting and reassuring the good and innocent people. It describes the righteous duty of upholding justice by punishing the wicked and shielding the virtuous from harm. The phrase conveys a moral obligation to maintain social order through both force and compassion.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Song dynasty compilation Taiping Guangji (太平广记), assembled under the direction of Li Fang (李昉) and others around 978 AD. In this work, the duty of a certain figure is described as 'to eliminate the violent and pacify the good' (舍之职责，在乎除暴安良). The idiom later gained wider literary circulation through works such as Li Ruzhen's Qing dynasty novel Jinghuayuan (镜花缘), where it is used to characterize the noble mission of swordsmen. It has since become a stock expression for righteous authority and chivalric duty in Chinese literary tradition.
💡 Example Usage
武侠小说中的侠客常以除暴安良为己任。
The knights-errant in martial arts novels often take it as their mission to eradicate the wicked and protect the innocent.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 除暴安良
- Pinyin: chú bào ān liáng
- Literal Translation: eliminate, violent, pacify, good
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4