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làn yù chong shù

In ancient times in the southern state of Qí Guó, there was an emperor who loved music, in particular the wind instrument known as the yù (?). This emperor, who was called Xuan Wáng, loved the yù so much that he invited 300 yù players to form an ensemble.

Now, there was a very poor man called Nán Guo. He was so poor that his family often went hungry. When he heard the emperor was putting together a large ensemble, and that the pay was good, he decided to see if he could join, even though he couldn’t play the yù.

Nán Guo succeeded in joining the group, and for many years he was one of the 300 yù players employed by the emperor. He went through the motions of playing the instrument, but he never played a note. No one noticed since it was impossible to hear an individual player in such a large ensemble.

Eventually the emperor died. His son, Min Wáng, was also fond of the yù, but unlike his father, Min Wáng preferred to hear the solo yù. He asked all of the musicians, one by one, to play for him. After 299 of the musicians had played, Nán Guo was nowhere to be found. Fearing exposure as a fraud, he had long since run away.

This expression is said of a person or thing which is false. They are pretending to be good by mixing in with the crowd, or are simply making up the required number. It has a similar meaning to the English expression It is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.