📖 Meaning
To promise official positions, titles, and wealth in order to entice others into helping achieve improper or selfish goals. It describes buying loyalty through offers of power and profit rather than genuine merit.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Tao Juyin's 'History of the Warlord Period of the Northern Government' (北洋军阀统治时期史话), Chapter 71. It depicts how warlords during the Beiyang era would promise promotions and rewards to motivate their soldiers. Despite repeatedly setting deadlines to capture Huailai and using the method of conferring titles and making promises to encourage troops, their front lines never advanced a single step.
💡 Example Usage
他到处封官许愿，拉拢人心，企图夺取权力。
He went around promising official positions and rewards to win people over, scheming to seize power.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 封官许愿
- Pinyin: fēng guān xǔ yuàn
- Literal Translation: bestow, official, promise, wish
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4