📖 Meaning
No one picks up lost items left on the road. It describes a society with excellent moral conduct and public order. It is equivalent to the more common idiom 道不拾遗.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase appears in the New Book of Tang (新唐书), in the biography of Kan Qin (阚祾). Kan Qin was a military official whose troops were former bandits who plundered each other. He enforced discipline by executing offenders without exception, even among relatives and old friends. His strict governance was so effective that people would not even pick up lost belongings in the street, reflecting a well-ordered society.
💡 Example Usage
明初法令严明，乡里道不举遗，夜不闭户。
In the early Ming Dynasty, laws were strictly enforced, and the countryside was so orderly that no one picked up lost items on the road and doors were left unbarred at night.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 道不举遗
- Pinyin: dào bù jǔ yí
- Literal Translation: road, not, pick up, lost
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4