Stories from Ancient China: "Only the Ordinary People Like to Trouble Themselves"

The expression "only the ordinary people trouble themselves" means the ordinary people like to stir things up and trouble themselves. It was first used in the Lu Huiangxhian Biography: The world is peaceful and only the ordinary people like to bother you and stir things up.

During the Tang Dynasty of ancient China Emperor Rui Zong's rule, there was a man named Lu Huiangxian who was an official in the imperial court. He was not only very knowledgeable and competent but also tolerant and honest in his advice to the Emperor. The Emperor thought highly of him but one time he angered the Emperor and was banished to Yi Zhou as a lower rank official.

After he went to Yi Zhou, he was very kind and generous to the local people. He did not even like to physically punish the criminals. His assistant commented," People here are very stubborn and very hard to manage. You need to have a system to punish them harshly, otherwise you will not be able to not establish your reputation and people will not fear you." Lu Huiangxhian shook his head and said, "I see it entirely different. If you manage the people's affairs well, there will be social stability. The people will love to work hard and enjoy their lives. They will then obey you. So why do I need to punish them heavily to build my reputation?"

As a result, Lu Huiangxian managed Yi Zhou according to his own ideas. One time an officer committed some wrongdoings. Lu just verbally reprimanded him and told him not to repeat such mistakes. His assistant said, "This is too light, and he should be severely flogged." Lu Huiangxhian said solemnly to his assistant, "All of us have feelings, and those feelings are by and large alike. I reprimanded him. Don't you think he understood what I said? Furthermore, he is your subordinate. When he does something wrong, aren't you responsible, too? If I should punish people physically, I should start with you first.

His assistant was very embarrassed and backed off.

Lu Huiangxhian often told his subordinates, "The world was quite peaceful, only the ordinary people who are shallow and incompetent like to stir things up and trouble themselves, and therefore they mess up the little things. I think if we can resolve our problem from the root cause, there would be less trouble."

Lu Huiangxhian indeed managed Yi Zhou very well; the people were happy and all the local officials admired him.