📖 Meaning
To mildly and indirectly criticize one matter so that many others are educated and warned. It originally described a literary technique in which a small element of moral critique was embedded within lavishly persuasive prose.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom traces to Sima Qian's 'Records of the Grand Historian' (史记), in the biography of the Han dynasty poet Sima Xiangru. The scholar Yang Xiong (扬雄) criticized Sima Xiangru's ornate rhapsodies (赋) as being like 'urging a hundred while satirizing one' (劝百而讽一), meaning the extravagant and seductive descriptions vastly outweighed the moral admonition. Yang compared this to galloping through the decadent music of Zheng and Wei, only playing proper court music at the very end of the song, which he felt undermined the intent.
💡 Example Usage
他的文章讽一劝百，借批评一人之失而警醒众人。
His essay satirized one to advise a hundred, using the criticism of a single person's failing to awaken the broader audience.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 讽一劝百
- Pinyin: fěng yī quàn bǎi
- Literal Translation: satirize one, advise one hundred
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4