📖 Meaning
A metaphor for cruel and oppressive persecution, using harsh legal means to entrap and frame the innocent. It derives from the names of two ruthless Tang dynasty officials—Luo Xishi and Ji Wen—whose surnames are combined with instruments of capture (pincers and net). The idiom conveys how victims were so tightly ensnared that escape was impossible.
📜 Origin Story
During the Tang dynasty, the powerful minister Li Linfu sought to eliminate officials who did not support him. He promoted two cruel subordinates, Luo Xishi and Ji Wen, who fabricated evidence and tortured confessions to build cases against Li's political enemies. No one caught in their schemes could avoid conviction. Contemporaries dubbed their oppressive methods 'Luo's pincers and Ji's net,' combining each official's surname with a tool of entrapment. The phrase was recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian under the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.
💡 Example Usage
在那个酷吏横行的年代，百姓们深受罗钳吉网之害，冤狱遍野。
In that era when cruel officials ran rampant, the common people suffered greatly under their oppressive entrapment, and unjust convictions spread everywhere.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 罗钳吉网
- Pinyin: luó qián jí wǎng
- Literal Translation: Luo's pincers, Ji's net
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4