指鹿为马 – Zhi Lu Wei Ma – This Stag Is a Horse!

Chengyu

指鹿为马 – zhǐ lù wèi mǎ

Chinese Character Break Down

指 – point
鹿 – deer, stag
为 – to be a
马 – horse

指鹿为马: To point at a stag and say it’s a horse

Idiom Meaning

Intentionally saying one thing is something it’s actually not, decieving.

Chengyu Examples

不要去那个商店，他们老是指鹿为马。
búyào qù nàge shāngdiàn, tāmen lǎoshi zhǐlùwèimǎ.
Don’t go to that store, they always try to cheat and palm something off on you.

如果故意指鹿为马，终会让人讨厌你。
rúguǒ gùyì zhǐlùwèimǎ, zhōnghuì ràng rén tǎoyàn nǐ.
If you deliberately mislead others, people will end up hating you.

Chengyu Story and Background

This Chengyu is based on a story that indeed shows some historical accuracy. It appears in “The Life of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty” in The Historical Records written by Sima Qian.

During the reign of the Second Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the prime minister Zhao Gao was thinking about usurping the throne day and night. He did however not know, how many of the court’s ministers would eventually support him once he had overthrown the emperor. To find that out, he used a simple trick and brought a stag to the emperial court.

“Your Majesty, this is a fine horse I brought.”, he said.
“It’s not a horse though”, the emperor replied.
“It is, and it can cover a thousend Li (ancient Chinese mile) a day.”

The emperor thought, Zhao Gao had to be joking and was highly suspicious.

“How can horns grow on a horse’s head?”, he asked.
“It’s a horse, I am telling you”, Zhao Gao answered, and pointing to the ministers added: “You can ask your ministers.”

The minsters of course had no idea what was wrong with Zhao Gao, because it was obvious that in front of them was a stag and not a horse. But seeing the sinister smile on Zhao Gao’s face, they understood what his true intentions were. So some of the ministers stayed loyal to the emperor and said it was of course a stag, but some confirmed that it was indeed a fine horse that ran a thousand Li a day.

While the end of the story is unknown, what has been handed down is the fact that later, when he actually made the emperor commit suicide, Zhao Gao executed those ministers who did not play along with him.