Idiom Explanation:
In order to uphold justice, relatives who have committed crimes are not harbored so that they are duly punished.
Pronunciation:
大材小用
dà cái xiǎo yòng
origin:
南朝·宋·范晔《后汉书·边让传》：“此言大器之于小用，固有所不宜也。”
story:
Xin Qiji, a famous patriotic lyricist of the Southern Song Dynasty, was called You’an and Jiaxuan. His father died when he was very young and he was raised by his grandfather. Xin Qiji had studied with Liu Zhan, a famous poet of the field at that time, and with Dang Huaiying. They were Liu Zhan’s most admired students. Once, Liu Zhan asked them both, “Confucius once asked his students to talk about their aspirations, so I will also ask you what you intend to do in the future.” Dang Huaiying replied, “I will study to become an official, to get a title and to honor my ancestors. I must go to the imperial court and become a great official; if I cannot become an official, I will go home and live in seclusion and write idyllic poems like my teacher.”
Liu Zhan was very happy to hear this and praised him for his noble ambition. But Xin Qiji replied, “I don’t want to be an official, I want to write about all the thieves in the world with my words and kill all the thieves in the world with my sword!” Liu Zhan was shocked to hear this and asked Xin Qiji not to say such absurd words in the future. Since then, Xin and the party two life paths are very different: Xin Qiji heroically committed to the national battlefield against the Jin, known as a patriotic lyricist; while the party Huaiying mixed in the Jin ruling group, for the Jin people as some helpers and even accomplices.
After the Jin invasion, Xin Qiji organized a team of more than 2,000 people to revolt in his hometown. Later, he led his team to join the peasant rebellion organized by Geng Jing in Jinan Province. Soon, the rebel army accepted the appointment of the imperial court and fought with the court’s army to combat the southward invading Jin army. In the spring of 1203, he was appointed as the governor of Shaoxing Prefecture and the pacifist of East Zhejiang Road. This year, Xin Qiji was already 64 years old.
There was a place called Sanshan in the western suburbs of Shaoxing, where Lu You, a famous patriotic poet at that time, was living in leisure time. Lu You was fifteen years older than Xin Qiji, almost eighty years old at the time, his patriotic poetry has long been admired by Xin Qiji, so soon after his arrival, Xin Qiji went to visit this predecessor, the two discussed national affairs together, hate to see each other. Lu You listened to Xin Qiji’s analysis of the situation and his vision of unifying the country, and felt that he was a very talented man and wished him success in his career.
In the spring of the following year, Song Ningzong decreed that Xin Qiji should go to Lin’an, the capital, to seek his advice on the northern expedition against the Jin Empire. Xin Qiji told Lu You about this, and Lu You felt that this was a good opportunity for Xin Qiji to show his talents and was happy for him.
In order to encourage Xin Qiji to give full play to his talents, Lu You wrote a long poem to him. In the poem, he said, “The great talent and small use of the ancient sighs, Guan Zhong, Xiao He really flow of Asia.” It means that Xin Qiji is a first-class figure of Guan Zhong and Xiao He, the great politician and military man in ancient times, but now he is the envoy of Zhejiang East Road, it is really a pity to use the big material in a small place. He was encouraged to work hard for the restoration of the Middle Kingdom and never mind because he was excluded from the ambition. At the age of sixty-six, this patriotic hero, who had always been used in a small way, finally passed away in sorrow and anger.
Similar Idioms:
- 明珠弹雀
- 牛鼎烹鸡
