dusty rice and dirty soup -- valueless things
In Chinese, the Pinyin is ch é NF à NT ú g à ng, which means rice made of dust and soup made of mud. Refers to children's games. It's a metaphor for something that's useless. It also refers to taking the false as the true. It comes from Han Feizi, the top left of waichu.
The origin of Idioms
"Han Feizi Wai Chu Shuo Zuo Shang" says: "the husband and the baby can play with each other. They take dust as food, paint as soup, and wood as food. However, those who will be paid in the evening can play but not eat."
Idiom usage
The Song Dynasty people are dedicated to CI, which is really excellent, and the poetry is far less than that of the Tang Dynasty. (collection of tongzhitang · miscellaneous knowledge of Lushui Pavilion by Nalanxingde in Qing Dynasty)
Analysis of Idioms
It's a mess
dusty rice and dirty soup -- valueless things
beat the swords into ploughshares - zhù jiàn wéi lí