What do you mean, only state officials can set fires and people are not allowed to light lamps?

Only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps. Literally, officials are allowed to set fires, but people are not allowed to light lamps. It means that powerful people can do things by themselves, but ordinary people are restricted from even legal activities.

There is a story in the Notes of the Old Learning Temple edited by you: a state official named Tian Deng, his subordinates and people in the state are not allowed to call his name or write his name. On the fifteenth day of the first month, turn on the lights for three days as usual. The little official who wrote the notice did not dare to write the word lamp, but changed it to "the state government set fire to it for three days according to law."

This led to the joke that "only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps".