📖 Meaning
To fabricate lies and stir up trouble. It describes someone who spreads false rumors or invents stories to provoke conflict and create disturbances where none existed before.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from Zhu Xi's commentary on the Mencius (Mengzi, Wanzhang chapter), where he annotates '好事' as referring to people who delight in fabricating words and stirring up trouble. The idiom also appears in Zhang Nanzhuang's Qing dynasty novel 'He Dian' and Wu Jianren's 'Strange Events Witnessed Over Twenty Years,' reflecting its longstanding use in classical and vernacular Chinese literature to condemn rumormongers.
💡 Example Usage
他一贯造言生事，挑拨同事之间的关系，最终被公司开除。
He habitively fabricated rumors to stir up trouble and sow discord among colleagues, and was ultimately fired by the company.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 造言生事
- Pinyin: zào yán shēng shì
- Literal Translation: fabricate, words, create, trouble
- Category: Communication
- Characters: 4