What are people doing and looking at?

"People are doing, and the sky is watching" actually refers to subjective behavior and objective evaluation. On the one hand, it warns the bad guys not to run amok, and if they do more injustice, they will hang themselves; On the other hand, it is encouraging good people to make contributions, and your good deeds will be recognized by the masses sooner or later.

Common sayings with similar meanings

There are witnesses everywhere.

Because of their belief in gods, ancient people would go to the corresponding temples to worship if they were unhappy in some ways. Here, mentioning means pointing upwards, and the case refers to the altar where incense is placed. The original meaning is that the gods are watching you three feet above the altar. If you pray and sacrifice, the gods will help you.

Later, there was an extended meaning that no matter where you do anything, the gods three feet above your head can see clearly, so no one should think that no one is doing bad things around. It means persuasion and discipline. So later, there were similar sayings, such as "holding your head up three feet has a god" and "holding your head up three feet has a god".