📖 Meaning
Literally meaning to cling to and chase after things with a rank, foul smell, this idiom is a metaphor for fawning on the powerful and influential in pursuit of personal gain. It conveys contempt for those who seek profit by attaching themselves to the corrupt and wealthy.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom draws on the imagery of scavengers and insects drawn to the smell of rotting meat. There is no single classical source; it appears as a variant of the more common phrase 附膻逐秽, both expressing the same metaphor of base attraction to the foul. The imagery evokes those who, like flies to carrion, swarm wherever profit and influence are to be found. It has been used in Chinese literary criticism to denounce sycophants throughout the imperial era.
💡 Example Usage
他为人清高，从不附膻逐腥，一生甘守清贫。
He was a man of noble character who never fawned on the powerful for personal gain, willingly living in poverty all his life.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 附膻逐腥
- Pinyin: fù shān zhú xīng
- Literal Translation: cling to, rank mutton smell, chase after, foul fishy smell
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4