First, extended meaning
1, people's eyes only stare at the beautiful box, but they lose the really valuable orb. It can be seen that everything must have priorities, otherwise it will be like the Zheng people who "buy gifts and return pearls" to make stupid things such as giving up the basics and making improper choices.
2. Businessmen pay too much attention to appearance, so that the value of decorative appearance is higher than that of beads. It can be used to describe that some manufacturers over-decorate their appearance in order to gain benefits, making the value of appearance higher than the value of goods, thus raising the price of goods a lot.
Modernity is also used to describe how to spend a lot of capital to get less return, and a seller of rafters gets a "pearl" with a "rafter".
4. describe people as short-sighted and improper in choice.
Beauty can be created, but the real beauty should not be artificially carved. It should be a flower blooming on real fertile soil! ! If something is really beautiful, then it doesn't need any outside help to set it off.
6, don't care too much about appearance, the essence is the most important.
Second, the idiom "buy gifts and return pearls" has been falsified.
Recently, I watched Everything Wrong and made an unexpected discovery. The idiom "buy a gift and return the pearl" in Han Feizi is actually a misunderstanding of Han Feizi. This idiom is completely untenable.
Almost all dictionaries include "buy gifts and return pearls", and the definitions are basically the same. Ci Yuan is interpreted as "improper removal"; Cihai is interpreted as "giving up the root and chasing the end, improper choice" and so on. And take the interpretation of the Chinese Dictionary by the Commercial Press as an example:
"Everything is done wrong" records that a Chu man put pearls in a wooden box and went to Zheng State to sell them. A A Zheng man thought the box was beautiful, so he bought the wooden box and returned the pearls to the seller. Metaphor is improper choice, grasping the secondary and losing the main.
Is it really an improper choice to "return pearls with gifts"? Is this the original intention of Han Feizi? To avoid being taken out of context, I quote the full text of Han Feizi.
King Chu said to Tianjiu, "Mozi is a scholar, but he is in good health. Why don't you argue? "
He said: "In the past, I married a daughter to Kim's son and dressed her up as 70 people. In the Jin Dynasty, Jin people loved concubines and valued their husbands over their daughters. This can be said to be a good concubine, but not a good woman. Some Chu people sold their pearls to Zheng, that is, Mulan's cabinet, decorated with cinnamon, pearls and jadeite, decorated with roses, decorated with feather clothes and jadeite. Zheng Guoren bought the jewelry box and returned the pearls. This can be said to be good at selling bamboo slips and not good at selling pearls. The talk in this world is all arguments and words, and people forget to use them after reading them. Mozi's theory, spread to Wang Zhidao first, on the words of saints, to announce people; If you argue about its words, you are afraid that people will forget its use and use it directly. This is similar to Chu people's pearls and Bai Qin's marrying women, so there is not much dispute. " ("Everything is wrong, and the foreign reserves say left")
Look, this pearl dealer in Chu spent so much money and energy to beautify this pearl box that Zheng's customers bought this beautiful box instead of the pearls he wanted to sell. Han Feizi criticized Chu people for "selling bamboo slips but not pearls", but did not accuse Zheng people of "buying bamboo slips and returning pearls" at all. However, the current idioms and their definitions have turned the criticism of Chu people's pearls in the original book into the criticism of Zheng people's buying pearls and returning them. Isn't this the original intention of Han Feizi?
See what Han Feizi allegorized with this story (and the story of Bai Qin marrying his daughter). The original works criticized scholars' theories submerged in practice with grandiose arguments, but did not accuse readers (listeners) of appreciating their literary talents in poetry. However, the current idioms and their definitions have turned the original criticism of scholars' writings into criticism of the audience's improper choice, which is obviously completely contrary to the original intention.
Everything is wrong gives this fable an accurate name: "Chu people play the lute to a cow." Later, people changed it to "buy gifts and return pearls", which is really a misnomer, and the plot and theme of this fable have also changed.
It can be seen that the current idiom "buy a gift to return the pearl", regardless of its name, original meaning or extended meaning, is a wrong interpretation of Han Feizi.
So, is the argument in Everything Ready correct? Although this Chu merchant's practice is inappropriate, isn't it an improper choice for Zheng Ke to "buy gifts and return pearls"?
No, this Zheng Ke just took a fancy to that beautiful box, so he bought bamboo slips and returned pearls, which was very smart. If you buy expensive pearls that you don't like, don't need, or won't identify, it's really a big mistake. Therefore, it is reasonable that Han Feizi did not accuse Zheng people of buying gifts and returning pearls. However, the idiom "buy pearls and give them back" and its definition require people to buy expensive pearls, which is a wrong "shopping guide".
A dictionary editor subconsciously felt the defect of the idiom "buy a gift to return pearls", so he added a plot: Zheng Ren "paid the full amount of this box of pearls, but took it out and returned it to the businessman" (see Idiom Allusions by Liaoning Publishing House), which is of course reasonable and can be said. This idiom seems to hold water. But this key plot-paying the price of pearls-is not Han Feizi's original intention at all. After this change, this fable becomes a story of a profiteer cheating customers, which has nothing to do with the fabled things. Therefore, the postscript of this dictionary is completely inconsistent with the original, which just exposes the fatal flaw of the idiom "buy a gift and return the pearl"
In a word, the current idiom "buy a gift to return pearls" and its interpretation are inconsistent with the code and unreasonable, and should be abandoned. The idioms in Han Feizi should be "Chu people celebrate pearls", "Chu pearls celebrate Zheng" or "Qin women celebrate pearls". Interpretation means that words are harmful to use, words are superficial to truth, and the ending is better than itself.
Liu Xie in the Southern Dynasties correctly understood and applied this fable in Han Feizi. He said: "In the past, Qin women married Jin people. From the perspective of clothing, Jin people were expensive and cheap; Chu Zhu is a tribute to Zheng, a gift to cultivate Gui, and the people of Zheng bought it as a gift to return pearls. If the word is superficial in reason and finally wins its essence, then it lies here. " (Wen Xin Diao Right) Here, "Qin women marry gold" and "Chu Zheng" are used to allegorize that "writing is reasonable and appropriate."
Some people may think that the current idiom "buy a gift and return the pearl" and its definition have been used for many years and have become an established custom, so let it be. Even if this reason can be established, we can't directly impose the idiom "buy gifts and return pearls" on Han Feizi like the current dictionaries; Instead, we should truthfully explain the origin, evolution and degeneration of this idiom, so as not to spread it wrongly and make people laugh. He is from the State of Chu and has a beautiful pearl, which he intends to sell. In order to get a good price, he tried his best to package the pearls. He felt that with noble packaging, the "identity" of pearls naturally rose.
The Chu people discovered the valuable Mulan, and invited skilled craftsmen to make a box (that is, a bamboo raft) for the pearl, and smoked the box with cinnamon spice. Then, on the outside of the box, many beautiful patterns were carved and inlaid with beautiful metal lace. It looks shiny. It's really a delicate and beautiful handicraft.
In this way, the Chu people carefully put pearls into boxes and took them to the market to sell.
Soon after arriving at the market, many people gathered around to admire the Chu people's boxes. A Zheng people hold the box in their hands and can't put it down for a long time. Finally, he paid a high price for the Chu people's box. Zheng paid the money and came back with a box. But he came back after a few steps. The Chu people thought that Zheng people regretted returning the goods. Before the Chu people could finish thinking, Zheng people had come to the Chu people. I saw Zheng people take pearls out of the open box and give them to the Chu people, saying, "Sir, you left a pearl in the box. I'll return it to you when I come back." So Zheng gave the pearl to the Chu people, then looked down at the wooden box and went back.
The Chu people stood there awkwardly with the returned pearls. He thought others would appreciate his pearls, but he didn't expect the exquisite outer packaging to exceed the value in the box, so that "a presumptuous guest usurps the host's role" made the Chu people laugh and cry. 1, I often feel that women who make up make the mistake of buying gifts and returning pearls. Please look me in the eye! The eyeliner outlined in thick ink is saying. But the eyes, surrounded by fence-like false eyelashes, are dim and hesitant.
2, reading must absorb the essence, don't do stupid things like buying gifts and pearls.
3, from small to large, called throwing bricks to attract jade; I don't know how much it costs, just buy a gift and return the pearls.
4. He has done a lot of things like this.
Qin became a laughing stock in his heart because of his meanness.
Unfortunately, my nephew, who has no eyesight, just bought a gift for others.
7. There must be a distinction between primary and secondary in learning, and you must never buy gifts and return pearls.
8. People with brains should not do stupid things like buying gifts and returning pearls.
9. If you don't explore the meaning of reading the Bible and only pay attention to the exegesis of chapters and sentences, it's like buying gifts and returning pearls. It's no use watching too much.
10, study should be focused, not aimless, and never buy a gift or return pearls.
1 1, people laugh at buying bamboo slips and returning them to pearls, but there is always the danger of forgetting bamboo slips.
12, you old guys with long eyes, I told you to buy bamboo slips and return pearls, and I told you to look down on me. My aunt can't kill you today!
13, it's hard to say. Maybe an embroidered pillow. At that time, I will come directly to buy gifts and return pearls.
14, the sentence-making network is as original as possible, collecting high-quality sentences, so that you can learn useful knowledge while making sentences.
15, buying bamboo slips and returning pearls, confusing eyes with pearls, are my comments and concerns about the production and operation status of Jiajiang handmade paper! Sichuan Jiajiang Handmade Paper Museum.
16, now that I think about it, she has a feeling of buying gifts and returning pearls.
17, fresh, but has become an expert on the dynastic history of the cottage version, which can be described as buying bamboo slips and returning pearls.
18, in fact, it is not panic to dig out dust beads, but it is still a big step better than buying bamboo slips and returning pearls.
19. No matter how good the packaging is, it is only the appearance. What we value more is the internal quality of goods. You must remember that we must never do anything stupid to buy a gift and return it to the pearl.
20, this fairy is really a good thing, but compared with this little guy named Hu Yuan around you ... Hey, the boy who bought pearls, stop it, stop it, you'd better realize it yourself.
2 1, everyone knows that the box is just a package, but even so, it is amazing enough. You know, Han Feizi wrote a book about buying gifts and returning pearls.
22. There is nothing Wang Lichun can do about it. What he wants most is that auspicious suit. As a result, Zhang Dayong gave him a gift to return the pearls and the Japanese military uniform.
23. This tiger, lion and beast really has some origins, and Yang Mu can't help feeling sorry. If he is strong enough, he can appease this strange animal and become a spiritual pet. Now he only has some fur materials and Xue Jing, which is really a feeling of buying gifts.
24. The box with the heart of the universe is priceless, and this bead is even more extraordinary. Wu Hong is not the one who bought the bamboo slips and returned the beads.
25. Everyone was puzzled by Yang Sheng's words as suspense, but some people suspected that they bought gifts to return pearls.