📖 Meaning
The Five Classics stand for scholars and men of learning. This idiom means that scholars have lost all face and dignity, bringing disgrace upon learning itself. In older usage it also refers to the obliteration of the sage's teachings and the moral Way.
📜 Origin Story
From the 'New Book of Tang, Biography of Zhu Qinming.' Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang dynasty held a banquet with his ministers, and the scholar Zhu Qinming volunteered to perform the 'Eight Winds Dance.' Zhu was fat and ugly; he crawled on the ground, shook his head, rolled his eyes, and looked about comically, making the emperor roar with laughter. Lu Cangyong, Vice Minister of Personnel, sighed and said, 'This is truly the Five Classics sweeping the ground,' lamenting that such disgraceful behavior had brought shame upon all scholars.
💡 Example Usage
那位教授在众人面前丑态百出，简直是五经扫地。
That professor made a complete fool of himself before the crowd, truly bringing disgrace to all scholarship.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 五经扫地
- Pinyin: wǔ jīng sǎo dì
- Literal Translation: Five Classics, sweep, ground
- Category: Status
- Characters: 4