lit. Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it; fig. to misinterpret the original meaning
Traditional 郢書燕說
Meaning
YǐngshūYānshuōying3 shu1 yan1 shuo1
lit. Ying writes a letter and Yan reads it
fig. 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"
