The rabbit broke its neck and died. What do you mean?

A rabbit hit a stump, broke its neck and died.

From: Five Cheats by Han Fei in the Warring States Period.

Excerpt: In the Song Dynasty, someone plowed the field and there was a plant in the field. The rabbit touched the plant, broke its neck and died. Because he put it there, he stood beside the plant, hoping to get the rabbit back, but the rabbit couldn't get it back. Just like a song of Xiao Guo. Today, the people who want to go to the former dynasty are all guarding their factories and so on.

Translation: There is a Song man who is farming in the field. There was a stump in the field. A rabbit ran in, broke its neck and died. From then on, the last man put down his farm tools and stood by the stump, hoping to find the dead rabbit again. Of course, he couldn't get a rabbit, which became a joke of Song State. Now, if we want to govern the contemporary people with the politics of the late king, it undoubtedly belongs to those who wait for him.

Get the idiom: wait for the rabbit? 【 shǒu zh dàI tù 】 Metaphor is not active efforts, but luck, hoping to get unexpected gains.

Extended data

Wu Zhu is the most representative work of Han Feizi, which reflects Han Feizi's social historical view and political thought. The so-called "five insects" refers to five kinds of people as social moths, and "insects" means moths. These five kinds of people are: Confucian, ranger, strategist, patient, industrialist and businessman.

The article is a further development of pre-Qin reasoning, which can reflect the overall characteristics of Han Fei's articles. The author cites a large number of facts, points out the great differences between ancient and modern society in comparison, has sufficient arguments and sharp words, and deducts the facts to the point.

Han Fei advocates the rule of law, Confucianism advocates benevolence and righteousness, and rangers can break the law. Han Fei advocates farming to prevent patients from evading military service, and industrial and commercial people oppose farming, so Han Fei opposes it. Han Fei emphasized the absolute authority of the monarch and suppressed the democratic social atmosphere, and his "five mistakes" theory was biased.

In the end, the author died in prison, which shows that severe punishment will only create a large number of unjust prisons. Social stability comes at the expense of terror and people's fears. Governing the country in this way is not worth the loss, even in feudal society, it is impossible to maintain long-term stability, which can only be the wishful thinking of the rulers.