Golden elephant Zhouzhuang fortune telling

Only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps.

In the Song Dynasty, a man named Tiandeng became a state official. Because his name "Deng" is homophonic with "Deng", in order to avoid taboo, he forbade people around him to talk about any word with the same pronunciation as "Deng". Anyone who accidentally violates this taboo will be beaten or sentenced. In order to avoid anonymity, Quanzhou people have to call "light" "fire" and "lighting" can only be called "ignition".

This year, the Lantern Festival is coming. According to past practice, the Lantern Festival is celebrated by setting off Kongming lanterns. It has become a well-known custom that the government puts on lights and people watch and appreciate them. To this end, the government should post a notice to inform the public in advance and let the people come to watch. At this time, people who work in government offices feel very headache: in any case, the word "light" on the notice is unavoidable.

The person who wrote the notice racked his brains and decided to change the word "light" to "fire" as usual. As a result, the people of the whole city read such a notice that will be handed down to future generations during the Lantern Festival: "The country will set fire to it for three days as usual."

At first, the local people were confused, especially the guests from other places. What's more, Zhang Er monk was confused and mistakenly thought that the government really planned to set fire to the city for three days. Some people run away in fear of "hurting the fish in the pool".

When everyone finally understood the whole story, they all felt ridiculous and angry. People ridiculed Tian Deng as an "arson state official." Because of his unruly behavior on weekdays, the masses complained about his "arson" notice that "only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps". This is the origin of this idiom.

"Only state officials can set fires, but people are not allowed to light lamps" has become a classic sentence that people ridicule and attack those in power who oppress the people and do evil, and it has been passed down to this day.