Playing tricks

monica

                                          Playing tricks

In the Warring States Period (475-221)., the king of Qi State was so fond of the yu, a wind instrument, that he had a band of more than 300 musicians play four him every afternoon. The kin was most satisfied with the band and the music they produced.
But he did not know that a member of the band,Nan Guo, was not even a musician. Though he knows nothing about the yu, Nan somehow managed to pass himself off as a yu player by sitting right at the back, pretending to play the instrument. Nan’s tricks came to an end when the king’s son took the throne. The new king ,unlike his father, preferred solos to full orchestral performances. He liked to summon musicians to perform individually. So Nan’s tomfoolery was exposed in no time and he found himself without a band to hide in anymore.

This story is the basis fro the Chinese idiom “濫竽充數” . It is used nowadays to describe incompetent people who fill a position without real qualifications. Sometimes, it is also used to refer to shoddy goods.

[ 本帖最后由 monica 于 2007-6-4 22:47 編輯 ]