What does the idiom "qiong zhu nan shu" (too many crimes to record) mean?
Qiong zhu nan shu means that even if all the bamboo is used up, it still cannot be written out completely; it is a metaphor for facts (mostly crimes) being so numerous that it is hard to finish describing them. It comes from "Lu Shi Chun Qiu": “The things produced by a chaotic state, even using all the bamboo of Jing and Yue, still cannot be written down.” and "Han Shu · Gong Sunhe Zhuan": “The bamboo of the southern mountains is not enough to receive my words, and the wood of the Xie Valley is not enough to make my instruments.” Now let us take a look together at what qiong zhu nan shu means!
The origin of qiong zhu nan shu
“Qiong zhu nan shu” first appeared in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu": “The things produced by a chaotic state, even using all the bamboo of Jing and Yue, still cannot be written down.” and "Han Shu · Gong Sunhe Zhuan": “The bamboo of the southern mountains is not enough to receive my words, and the wood of the Xie Valley is not enough to make my instruments.” The original meaning in both is “the matters are so numerous that they cannot all be written down.” Many people only know the line from "New Tang Book · Li Mi Zhuan": “During the Sui dynasty, Li Mi sent a proclamation to the commanderies and counties, listing Emperor Yang's ten crimes and saying: 'Using up all the bamboo of the southern mountains, his crimes still cannot be fully written; opening the waves of the Eastern Sea, his evil still cannot be fully washed away.'”
The meaning of qiong zhu nan shu
Qiong is also written as qing; its original meaning is that a vessel is empty, and by extension it means to exhaust or use up. Zhu means bamboo; the ancients wrote on bamboo slips, and bamboo was the material used to make them. The original meaning of qiong zhu nan shu is that even using up all the bamboo, it still cannot be written out completely; it is a metaphor for facts (mostly crimes) being so numerous that it is hard to finish describing them. Words with similar meanings include shi e bu she, zui da e ji, and zhuo fa nan shu; words with opposite meanings include zhai xin ren hou, feng gong wei ji, ju bu sheng ju, and bu ke sheng shu.
The allusion of qiong zhu nan shu
Li Mi was originally a guard of Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang. He was clever and nimble by nature. Once, while on duty, he looked around, was noticed by Emperor Yang of Sui, who thought he was not honest, and so removed Li Mi from his post. Li Mi was not discouraged; he resolved to accomplish something great, and from then on studied diligently.
Once, Li Mi was riding an ox on the main street and hung "The Biography of Xiang Yu" on the ox's horn, seizing the time to read. It happened that the chancellor Yang Su saw him. Yang Su had a friendly conversation with Li Mi and felt that he was a very ambitious person. When Yang Su returned home, he said to his son Yang Xuangan: “Li Mi is broad in learning and also very capable. In the future, if there is any important matter, you can discuss it with him.” From then on, Yang Xuangan and Li Mi were good friends.
Later, Yang Xuangan raised troops to overthrow the rule of Emperor Yang of Sui, and invited Li Mi to serve as his adviser. However, because Yang Xuangan was misled by others, he did not use Li Mi's strategies at several critical moments, which ultimately led to the defeat of his army and his being killed. After Li Mi escaped danger, he continued to resist the Sui dynasty. He fled
to the Wagang peasant rebel army led by Zhai Rang. With Li Mi's help, this rebel army achieved great victories in a very short time. Zhai Rang then took the initiative to yield the position of leader to Li Mi.
After Li Mi established his regime, when attacking Luoyang, he issued a proclamation condemning Emperor Yang of Sui, announcing that Emperor Yang of Sui had ten major crimes and calling on the common people to rise up and overthrow him. Among the lines were: “Using up all the bamboo of the southern mountains, his crimes still cannot be fully written; opening the waves of the Eastern Sea, his evil still cannot be fully washed away.” This means that even if all the bamboo of the southern mountains were made into bamboo slips, the crimes of Emperor Yang of Sui still could not be fully written; and if the dam of the Eastern Sea were opened and the surging seawater all flowed away, the evil deeds of Emperor Yang of Sui still would not be fully washed away.