The upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked

The upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked

Shangliang: refers to the superior or elder. It means that if the people above do wrong, the people below do wrong. For example: the elders do improper things [smoking, fighting] in front of the younger generation. For a long time, the younger generation will also learn to smoke and fight.

This is a common saying from people's life. Originally, most of the houses people live in are civil structures, which should be built by carpenters who master building skills. There are various forms of such houses, some magnificent, such as palaces and temples, and some simple, such as residents' houses. However, regardless of its size, it should be composed of columns (upright supporting members), buildings (purlins, main beams), beams (long wood erected on columns along the front and rear directions), purlins (long members erected on Gables or roof trusses to support rafters), rafters (wood with smaller diameter of roof panels and tiles erected on purlins), etc. Generally, two houses should have three beams and six columns, but some have more beams and columns. Wooden structure of the house structure is tight, with a very profound scientific principle. Therefore, once the upper beam is not placed properly, it will affect the whole house structure, and the lower beam is naturally not placed properly. Later, the saying "the upper beam is not right, and the lower beam is crooked" is used to describe the people who play a major role, such as leaders and elders, who violate the law and moral standards, and the rest of them will follow suit.

Entry information

[pronunciation] sh à ngli á NGB à zh è ngxi à Li á NGW à I à Don't blame them. It's called ~. --In the Qing Dynasty, the master of flower playing was decorated with white fur. Wang Shuo's "lost my love forever" said: "this is myself. I would have been anxious to change others. Otherwise, it would be wrong to say that the right person should be the first to be the right one

Story 1

In the Song Dynasty, natural disasters occurred one after another in Chenzhou. The court sent corrupt officials Liu De and Yang Jinwu to open warehouses to sell grain. They raised the price of grain on the pretext of public welfare, and mixed sand in the grain, which was not enough. The common people are extremely indignant at their behavior, but they have no choice but to sigh: "the upper beam is not right and the lower beam is crooked."

Story 2

Ji Kangzi asked Confucius about politics. Confucius said to him, "a political man is right. Who dares to be upright or not? " Ji Kangzi asked Confucius how to govern political affairs. Confucius replied, "the meaning of government is to be upright. You take the lead, who dares not? " [interpretation] on this issue, Confucius has repeatedly said: "if one's own behavior is correct, that is, he does not give orders, the people below also know how to do it; if one's own behavior is not correct, no one will listen even if he gives repeated orders." (Zilu) "if one's own behavior is correct, what are the difficulties from the perspective of politics? If you don't behave properly, how can you correct others? " (Zilu) Mencius also said: "if you are not upright, you can't make others upright." (Mencius Teng Wengong II) in a word, it is that the upper beam is not right, the lower beam is crooked, and the middle beam is not right. The political science of Confucianism emphasizes the exemplary role of leaders, which is consistent with the idea of building a clean and honest government that we are carrying out today.