📖 Meaning
A metaphor for refusing gifts and bribes and maintaining personal integrity. It describes an honest, incorruptible official who declines presents offered to curry favor. The image of hanging a fish in the front courtyard symbolizes publicly showing one's refusal to be bought.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the Biography of Yang Xu in the Book of the Later Han. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yang Xu served as governor of Nanyang and lived a frugal life. When an official under him once presented him with a fresh fish, Yang Xu hung it in the front courtyard instead of eating it. When the official later offered another fish, Yang Xu pointed to the fish he had hung earlier to discourage him. Through this gesture Yang Xu demonstrated his refusal to accept gifts and was celebrated for his uprightness and incorruptibility.
💡 Example Usage
他为官清正，前庭悬鱼，从不收受任何贿赂。
He served as an upright official who, like the one hanging fish in the courtyard, never accepted a single bribe.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 前庭悬鱼
- Pinyin: qián tíng xuán yú
- Literal Translation: front, courtyard, hang, fish
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4