📖 Meaning
To reward one person as a way to encourage the many. It describes a leadership strategy where recognizing and rewarding a single individual's good deeds serves to motivate the broader group. The phrase originates from ancient texts on governance and statecraft.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase traces back to the Zhou dynasty strategist Lü Shang (also known as Jiang Ziya or Taigong Wang), recorded in his work 'Yinmou' (The Hidden Plan). Lü Shang advised that a wise ruler wields authority through both punishment and reward: executing one to discipline ten thousand, and rewarding one to encourage the many. This dual approach—punishment as warning and reward as incentive—was presented as the essence of a sovereign's power to shape the conduct of the populace.
💡 Example Usage
公司决定重奖这位技术骨干，以此赏一劝众，激励全体员工奋发向上。
The company decided to give a substantial reward to this key engineer, using the approach of rewarding one to encourage many, so as to motivate all employees to strive for excellence.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 赏一劝众
- Pinyin: shǎng yī quàn zhòng
- Literal Translation: reward, one, encourage, many
- Category: Leadership
- Characters: 4