📖 Meaning
Describes a situation where insiders and outsiders collude and conspire together in secret. It implies a treacherous alliance where people on the inside work hand in hand with external parties to scheme against a common target.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Chapter 62 of the classic Ming Dynasty novel 'Water Margin' (《水浒传》) by Shi Nai'an. In the story, a character is accused of betraying his hometown of Beijing by secretly joining the Liangshan outlaws and then returning to collude with them from the inside to attack the city. The phrase originally appeared as '里钩外连' and later evolved into its current form.
💡 Example Usage
公司里有人里勾外连，把商业机密泄露给了竞争对手。
Someone inside the company was colluding with outsiders, leaking trade secrets to a competitor.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 里勾外连
- Pinyin: lǐ gōu wài lián
- Literal Translation: inside, hook, outside, connect
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4