📖 Meaning
To stir up trouble and create disorder, like evil spirits wreaking havoc. It describes troublemakers who deliberately disrupt peace and spread harmful influence, often for selfish gain.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom is a variant of the more common '兴妖作怪' (xīng yāo zuò guài), which has roots in traditional Chinese folk beliefs about demons and evil spirits causing chaos in the mortal realm. No single classical source is recorded for this specific form, but the imagery of demons rising up to create disorder appears frequently in Ming and Qing dynasty vernacular novels such as 'Journey to the West' (西游记). The phrase was used to describe both literal supernatural disturbances and metaphorical human troublemaking.
💡 Example Usage
这些不法分子在市场上兴妖作乱，必须严惩。
These lawbreakers are stirring up trouble in the market and must be severely punished.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 兴妖作乱
- Pinyin: xīng yāo zuò luàn
- Literal Translation: raise demons, create chaos
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4