What ten steps make you laugh?

The pot calls the kettle black. This is an idiom in China, which means that you have the same shortcomings or mistakes as others, only to a lesser extent, but you laugh at others' behavior.

This sentence comes from the article "Liang, I serve my country" in Mencius. The original sentence is: "Fill it up, connect with the blade, abandon the armor and drag the troops, or stop at a hundred steps, or stop at fifty steps." What if the pot is too black? "

The meaning of this sentence is that when the two armies are at war, when the defeated soldiers throw away their armor and drag their weapons to escape, some people stop after fleeing for a hundred steps, while others stop after fleeing for fifty steps. What if a man who runs 50 paces laughs at a man who runs 100 paces?

This sentence was said by Mencius when he advised Liang. During the Warring States period, countries competed for hegemony, and frequent wars caused casualties when people migrated. However, at that time, there was no knee-high restriction, and most people moved to a relatively stable and prosperous country, so the population of the country became one of the signs of whether the country was rich, stable and prosperous.

However, Liang was belligerent by nature, so Mencius used the example of war to tell Liang what is the correct way to govern the country. It shows Mencius' political ideas of advocating rites and music, opposing hegemony and war, and also shows Mencius' ingenious debating skills and superb debating level.