📖 Meaning
A metaphor for information becoming distorted as it is passed from person to person. It describes how a message loses its original meaning through repeated retelling until the result bears no resemblance to the source. The idiom warns against uncritically accepting hearsay.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Han dynasty scholar Wang Chong's work 'Lunheng: Shuxu' (论衡·书虚). According to a folk tale, Ding Gong dug a well and thereby 'obtained a person,' meaning he freed up one laborer's workload. However, as the story circulated, people distorted it into the claim that Ding Gong had literally found a living person inside the well. Wang Chong cited this to criticize the unreliability of hearsay, arguing that people are born from people, not from the earth.
💡 Example Usage
这件事经多人转述，如丁公凿井般完全变了样。
After being retold by many people, the story became completely distorted, much like the tale of Ding Gong digging a well.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 丁公凿井
- Pinyin: dīng gōng záo jǐng
- Literal Translation: Ding, master, dig, well
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4