Oldest | Chinese idiom story 11 滥竽充数 làn yú chōnɡ shù

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Idiom  滥竽充数 làn yú chōnɡ shù

Explain  fill a post without real qualifications 

Story Background 

During the warring States period, the king of Qi liked to hear people play chess very much, and liked many people to play to him together, so the king  sent people everywhere to search for musicians who could play well and formed a band of 300 people. And those selected to enter the palace musicians, received a particularly generous treatment.


At that time, there was a idle, unscrupulous prodigal man, named Nanguo. He heard that the king had such a hobby, so he wanted to join the band,  he tried to meet the king , boasted to him that he was a great musician, won the favor of the king, and incorporated him into the class of musicians who played chess. The funny thing is, Mr. Nanguo can't blow at all. Whenever the band played to the king, he mingled in the team, learning the appearance of other musicians, shaking his head, swinging around, playing there. Because he learned well, and because hundreds of people played together, the king could not hear who would not. In this way, Nanguo mixed for several years, not only did not show a flaw, but also like other musicians received a generous reward, living a comfortable life.

Later, the king died, his son Qi Qian succeeded to the throne , the new king also likes to listen to blow. Only a little different, he did not like ensemble, but like the musicians one by one to blow to him.

When Mr. Nanguo heard the news, he was sweating all day. Thought, this time to show the foot of the horse, lost rice bowl is a small matter, if a bully on the charge, even the head can not be preserved. So, before the king asked him to play, he slipped away.

This idiom means that people who have no real knowledge are mixed up in experts, or are inferior, sometimes used as self-modesty.