one need not look far for a lesson

one need not look far for a lesson

Yin Jian Bu yuan, a Chinese idiom, is y ī NJI à Nb ù Yu ǎ n in pinyin, which means that the descendants of Zhou Dynasty should take the destruction of Shang as a warning. The lesson of our predecessors is in front of us. From the book of songs Daya Dang.

Idiom explanation

Yin: refers to the late Shang Dynasty; Jian: mirror. It means that the descendants of Zhou Dynasty should take the destruction of Xia (Yin) as a warning. The lesson of our predecessors is in front of us.

The origin of Idioms

"The book of songs · Daya · Dang" said: "Yin Jian is not far away, in the world after the summer."

Idiom usage

Chapter 32 of the second volume of Li Zicheng by Yao xueyin: "the history of Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty is not far from Chongzhen, but he never wants to be regarded as a weak monarch in the history books of later generations." Cai Dongfan's the first chapter of the romance of the Qing Dynasty: "now the word Qing Dynasty has become the history of the past. China's rivers and mountains are still the same. If we want to rule the country easily, we must carefully study the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty, choose the right one, and change the bad one. That's what the ancients said

Analysis of Idioms

Synonyms: lessons from the past, lessons from the future

Idiom story

King li of Zhou Dynasty is the tenth king of Zhou Dynasty. When he was in power, he levied exorbitant taxes on the inside, monopolized the social wealth and resources, aggravated the exploitation of the working people, and deprived some aristocrats of their power; externally, he attacked Jingchu in the south, defended nomadic tribes in the north, and had many conflicts with the surrounding ethnic minorities. In order to suppress the discontent of the Chinese people, King li of Zhou sent people to monitor the people who denounced publicly and executed them immediately. People in the capital dare not speak. When they meet on the road, they can only look at each other with their eyes. Mu Gong was summoned to the court to admonish him: "it is better to guard against the mouth of the people than against the river". Blocking people's mouth is more powerful than blocking the water in the river. If there is too much water, once a breach is made, the damage will be greater. This is also the reason why people should not speak. Therefore, the governance of the people is just like the governance of the river, which can only dredge, not block. King Zhou Li did not listen to the dissuasion and did what he wanted. From then on, the Chinese people did not dare to speak. A few years later, the people could not bear to have a riot and attacked King Zhou Li. He fled in panic and died in other places. This is the historical background of Da Ya Dang in the book of songs. The poet used King Wu's words to denounce the fatuous monarch, curse tyranny and curse King Zhou of Shang Dynasty. In fact, he was criticizing King li of Zhou Dynasty. "Yin Jian is not far away, in the age of Xia Hou (King)", in fact, "Zhou Jian is not far away, in the age of Yin Hou (King)" For Shang Dynasty, it was Xia Jie. For Zhou Dynasty, it was Yin Zhou!