What does 自相矛盾 mean?

自相矛盾 (zì xiāng máo dùn) literally means 'one's own spear against one's own shield.' 矛 is a spear for attacking and 盾 a shield for defending, and the idiom describes words or actions that contradict each other.

Where does the Chinese word for contradiction come from?

The Chinese word for contradiction, 矛盾 (máodùn), literally 'spear-shield', comes from this story in the Han Feizi, written by Han Fei in the third century BCE. Someone asks the seller what would happen if his spear struck his own shield, and he cannot answer.

What is the English equivalent of 自相矛盾?

The plain equivalent is 'to contradict yourself.' The story is also close to the old puzzle of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, and to the saying 'you can't have it both ways.'

What is the moral of The Spear and the Shield?

Keep your words honest and consistent. If you exaggerate, your own claims end up cancelling each other out, and people stop believing you.

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Chinese idiom · 声匠改编 · 3:50

The Spear and the Shield

A market seller swears nothing can pierce his shield and his spear pierces anything. A little girl asks one question. The story behind zi xiang mao dun.

Narrator

The Seller

Grandpa

The Little Girl

Auntie

0:000:00

Other languages · 2 languages

🇨🇳 中文 🇺🇸 English

About this story

The Spear and the Shield tells the story behind the Chinese idiom 自相矛盾 (zì xiāng máo dùn), literally 'one's own spear against one's own shield.' It comes from the Han Feizi, the book of the Legalist thinker Han Fei (died 233 BCE), in the chapter Nan yi: a man of Chu boasts that nothing can pierce his shield and that his spear pierces anything, until someone asks what happens when one meets the other. Han Fei used it to argue that the Confucians could not praise both Yao and Shun as perfect. This version sets the scene in a noisy market and lets a little girl ask the question that sinks the seller.

What it teaches

Tell the truth, and make sure your words agree with each other. Boast too much and your own claims will start a fight, so listen carefully when someone else does it too.

Suits

Ages 6 and up

Tips for telling it

Let the seller's patter get faster and louder, then slow right down for the girl's question. The contrast does the work.
Before Grandpa answers, stop and let your child answer the girl: what really happens when the spear hits the shield?
Tell older children that the everyday Chinese word for contradiction, 矛盾 (máodùn), literally means 'spear-shield' and comes from this story.

Questions people ask

What does 自相矛盾 mean?: 自相矛盾 (zì xiāng máo dùn) literally means 'one's own spear against one's own shield.' 矛 is a spear for attacking and 盾 a shield for defending, and the idiom describes words or actions that contradict each other.
Where does the Chinese word for contradiction come from?: The Chinese word for contradiction, 矛盾 (máodùn), literally 'spear-shield', comes from this story in the Han Feizi, written by Han Fei in the third century BCE. Someone asks the seller what would happen if his spear struck his own shield, and he cannot answer.
What is the English equivalent of 自相矛盾?: The plain equivalent is 'to contradict yourself.' The story is also close to the old puzzle of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, and to the saying 'you can't have it both ways.'
What is the moral of The Spear and the Shield?: Keep your words honest and consistent. If you exaggerate, your own claims end up cancelling each other out, and people stop believing you.

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