The House is As Crowded As a Market

Characters:

Pronunciation: men(2) ting(2) ruo(4) shi(4)
Explanation: A description to say a place is overflowing with people

Tone: Positive

The Story: In the Warring States Period, Zou Ji was Qi's Prime Minister. People around him always said he was handsome--even more handsome than the famous Lord Xu. One day, Zou Ji went to visit Lord Xu and he found that he was less handsome than Xu. Then he realized something else...

Zou Ji went to the Palace and said to the king, Wei Wang, "Your majesty, I must tell you a story. People around me say that I am more handsome than Lord Xu, but in fact I'm not. My wife says that because she loves me; my concubines say it because they fear me; my guests say that because they need my help. Now our whole nation obeys you and the whole court fears you. In this case, you're lied to more than me."

Wei Wang agreed with Zou Ji, then he issued a decree to the country and said those who point out the king's faults will get a Class A reward; those who state the kings bad policies in a letter will receive Class B rewards. Those who talk about the king in the street and can be heard of will get Class C rewards. When the decree was publicized, people with suggestions and proposals crowded at the palace gate and it looked like a market.

Over several months, the amount of people at the gates diminished, and eventually hardly anyone had anything bad to say.

Usage Example (Pinyin): Yin(1) wei(4) zuo(4) zhe(3) jin(1) tian(1) yao(4) lai(2), zhe(4) li men(2) ting(2) ruo(4) shi(4)

Usage Example (English translation): As the writer will be here today, the house is as crowded as a market.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.