During the Spring and Autumn period, Zhi Bo of Jin destroyed the Fan clan. Someone took the opportunity to break into the Fan home to steal things, and saw a big bronze bell hanging in the courtyard. The bell was cast from fine bronze with exquisite designs—beautiful. The thief was delighted and wanted to carry it home.
But the bell was too big and heavy to move. He thought of only one solution: smash the bell into pieces and carry them home separately. He found a big hammer and smashed the bell—"CLANG!" The loud noise scared him half to death.
The thief thought: This is bad—this bell noise tells everyone I'm stealing! The more he thought about it, the more scared he got. He covered his ears with both hands. Oh—the bell sound got quieter, then disappeared!
The thief was delighted: "Brilliant! If I cover my ears, I can't hear the bell!" He immediately stuffed his ears with cloth rags and started smashing the bell again. Each blow sent the bell ringing loudly far and wide. People heard the sound and swarmed over, catching the thief.
This is the story of "Covering One's Ears to Steal a Bell." The thief covered his own ears, thinking that if he couldn't hear it, nobody else could—isn't that just deceiving himself? This idiom means deceiving yourself, trying to hide what cannot be hidden.
The tale: a man saw a great bell hanging at someone door and wanted to steal it. It was too heavy to carry, so he decided to smash it into pieces and carry them away.
He struck the bell with a hammer; it rang loudly. Fearing being heard, he quickly covered his ears - thinking: if I cover my ears, others will not hear, right?
The story comes from Lüshi Chunqiu, mocking self-deceivers. He covered his own ears, but others ears were not covered - everyone heard the ringing.
"Yǎn ěr dào líng" means: deceiving yourself, thinking you fooled others when you only fooled yourself.
Today it criticises: cheating on exams thinking none will notice; doing wrong thinking it will stay hidden; or seeing a problem yet pretending it is not there.
It reminds us: facts are facts; pretending they do not exist does not remove them. Facing problems honestly is the first step to solving them.
For learners the image is strong: a man covering his ears while stealing a bell - comic and absurd. Remember the image, remember the idiom.
Remember: bells ring and facts surface. You can deceive yourself a moment, but not the world forever.
It teaches a vital truth: fooling others is easy, fooling oneself is hard; the most dangerous is fooling yourself, because then you never find the real problem.
In study there is also ear-covering bell-stealing: knowing a pronunciation is wrong yet ignoring it; knowing a grammar point is unclear yet skipping it. In the end you lose.
Honesty is the best study attitude. Admit what you do not know, then fill the gap - that is the wise way.
