📖 Meaning
When a transgression is committed by a large number of people, it becomes impractical to punish them all. The idiom reflects the idea that collective wrongdoing dilutes individual accountability, making enforcement counterproductive. It is often cited to explain why authorities may choose leniency when too many people are involved.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from 'Jinghuayuan' (镜花缘, Flowers in the Mirror), a Qing Dynasty novel by Li Ruzhen, first published around 1828. In Chapter 4, the text argues that since punishment cannot target the majority, if all the flowers refuse to accept the decree, even the ruler would find it difficult to summarily discard them all. The work blends fantasy, satire, and classical scholarship, following the scholar Tang Ao on a voyage through mythical lands. The passage illustrates the political logic that mass noncompliance can render a sovereign's threats hollow.
💡 Example Usage
参与罢工的工人太多，政府只能罚不责众，未作追究。
So many workers joined the strike that the government could not punish them all and let the matter drop.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 罚不责众
- Pinyin: fá bù zé zhòng
- Literal Translation: punish, not, blame, many
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4