📖 Meaning
This idiom refers to a person from the state of Zheng trying on shoes, satirizing those who blindly trust written rules or measurements over objective reality. It is commonly used to criticize dogmatists who refuse to adapt to actual circumstances. The phrase serves as a caution against rigid adherence to predetermined standards.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom derives from a famous anecdote recorded in Han Feizi (韩非子), a Legalist philosophical text from the Warring States period. A man from the state of Zheng measured his foot at home before going to the market to buy shoes, but upon arriving, he found he had left the measurement behind. Rather than trying the shoes on his actual feet, he rushed home to retrieve the measurement. By the time he returned, the market had already closed. When asked why he did not simply try the shoes on, he insisted that he trusted the measurement more than his own feet, illustrating the folly of valuing abstract rules over lived reality.
💡 Example Usage
他凡事只按书本行事，简直是郑人实履。
He does everything strictly by the book — it's like the man of Zheng and his shoes.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 郑人实履
- Pinyin: zhèng rén shí lǚ
- Literal Translation: Zheng, person, actually, wear, shoes
- Category: Knowledge
- Characters: 4