Two ferocious beasts, the jackal and the wolf, are in the middle of the road. It is a metaphor for a brutal person in power or breaking the law.
Idiom Pronunciation:
豺狼当道
chái láng dāng dào
Origin book:
《汉书·孙宝传》：豺狼横道，不宜复问狐狸。
Origin Story:
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, the dynasty was full of relatives and in-laws, and the great general Liang Ji was in power. Emperor Shun dispatched eight ministers, including Zhou Ju and Zhang Gang, to inspect the states and counties to investigate and collect corrupt officials. Among these eight men, Zhang Gang was the youngest and had the smallest official position, but he was an upright and outspoken man who was extremely dissatisfied with the current situation of political corruption and the emperor’s dimness and incompetence within the imperial court. He believed that in order to rectify the officials, the first thing to do was to severely punish the big officials in the court who were corrupt and bent the law. If this could be done, the small local officials would not dare to do anything wrong; otherwise, it would never solve much of the problem. For this reason, he was not interested in this visit and did not make it immediately. Only after repeated urging, he reluctantly left the capital.
Before Zhang Gang’s vehicle left the capital city of Luoyang, he ordered to stop at the Dujeong and ordered his men to dismantle the car they were riding in, bury the wheels in the ground, and not to go forward. His men were puzzled, so they asked him why he was doing this. Zhang Gang said indignantly, “The wolves are on the road, ask the foxes!” The surface meaning was that the wolves were in the middle of the road, so why bother to ask the foxes? Zhang Gang’s meaning is very clear: those big officials who run amok hold great power in the court, so why bother to inquire about those small officials who break the law? The implication is that the lawless officials should be punished first.
Zhang Gang returned to the capital and submitted a letter to Emperor Shun, exposing the crimes of the general Liang Ji and others who had collaborated with the party, victimized the people and framed the loyalists, and requested Emperor Shun to punish them severely. Since Emperor Shun favored Liang Ji’s sister, Empress Liang, he did not follow Zhang Gang’s request, although he knew it was justified.
Similar Idioms:
- 豺狼塞路
