郢书燕说 / 郢書燕說
yǐng shū yān shuō
Meaning
- literally Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it
- figuratively to misinterpret the original meaning
- to pile up errors
- refers to the letter from capital 郢 Yǐng of 楚 Chǔ in which the inadvertent words "hold up the candle" are mistaken by the minister of 燕 Yān as "promote the wise"