官样文章 guān yàng wén zhāng Formality, empty rhetoric

Explanation

旧时官场中套语和格式都固定的例行公文。比喻那些只注重形式，没有实际内容，或者照例敷衍的空话和虚文滥调。

In the old officialdom, routine documents with fixed formats and set phrases. It is a metaphor for empty words or phrases that are used only for the sake of form, without any real content.

Origin Story

话说清朝时期，有一位名叫李白的官员，他负责撰写一份关于地方治理的重要奏折。皇帝对这份奏折十分重视，希望李白能够认真地写出地方的真实情况，以便更好地治理国家。但是李白却很懒散，他觉得只要奏折的格式规范，内容空洞无物也没有关系。于是，他照搬以往的奏折，写了一份充满官场套话和固定格式的奏折呈给皇上。这份奏折虽然格式规范，但内容空洞乏味，毫无实际价值。皇上看完后，龙颜大怒，认为李白敷衍塞责，严重失职，将其贬官。这个故事告诉我们，做任何事情都应该脚踏实地，认真负责，不能只注重形式，而忽略了内容的实质。

huì shuō qīng cháo shí qī, yǒu yī wèi míng jiào lǐ bái de guān yuán, tā fùzé zhuàn xiě yī fèn guānyú dìfāng zhìlǐ de zhòngyào zòuzhé. huángdì duì zhè fèn zòuzhé shífēn zhòngshì, xīwàng lǐ bái nénggòu rènzhēn de xiě chū dìfāng de zhēnshí qíngkuàng, yǐ biàn gèng hǎo de zhìlǐ guójiā. dàn shì lǐ bái què hěn lǎnsǎn, tā juéde zhǐyào zòuzhé de gèshì guīfàn, nèiróng kōng dòng wú wù yě méiyǒu guānxi. yúshì, tā zhào bān yǐwǎng de zòuzhé, xiě le yī fèn chōngmǎn guān chǎng tàohuà hé gùdìng gèshì de zòuzhé chéng gěi huángshàng. zhè fèn zòuzhé suīrán gèshì guīfàn, dàn nèiróng kōng dòng fáwèi, háo wú shíjì jiàzhí. huángshàng kàn wán hòu, lóng yán dà nù, rènwéi lǐ bái fūyǎn sāizé, yánzhòng shīzhí, jìng qí biǎnguān. zhège gùshì gàosù wǒmen, zuò rènhé shìqíng dōu yīnggāi jiǎotàshídì, rènzhēn fùzé, bùnéng zhǐ zhòngshì xíngshì, ér hūlüè le nèiróng de shízhi.

During the Qing Dynasty, there was an official named Li Bai who was responsible for writing an important memorial on local governance. The emperor attached great importance to this memorial and hoped that Li Bai would seriously write about the true situation in the locality in order to better govern the country. But Li Bai was very lazy, and he thought that as long as the format of the memorial was standard, it didn't matter if the content was empty. So he copied previous memorials and wrote a memorial full of official clichés and fixed formats and presented it to the emperor. Although this memorial was formally correct, its content was empty and boring, with no practical value. After reading it, the emperor was furious, believing that Li Bai had neglected his duties and was seriously derelict in his duties, so he demoted him. This story tells us that we should be down-to-earth and responsible in everything we do, and we should not only pay attention to form but also ignore the substance of the content.

Usage

用作宾语、定语；指只注重形式，没有实际内容的文章。

yòng zuò bīn yǔ, dìng yǔ; zhǐ zhǐ zhòngshì xíngshì, méiyǒu shíjì nèiróng de wén zhāng.

Used as an object or attribute; refers to an article that focuses only on form without any real content.

Examples

• 这份报告只是一篇官样文章，毫无实际内容。

  zhè fèn bàogào zhǐshì yī piān guān yàng wén zhāng, háo wú shíjì nèiróng.

  This report is just a formality, with no real content.

• 他写的那些文章，全是官样文章，读起来让人昏昏欲睡。

  tā xiě de nàxiē wén zhāng, quán shì guān yàng wén zhāng, dú qǐlái ràng rén hūnhūn yùshuì.

  The articles he wrote are all empty rhetoric, making one sleepy while reading them..

Related Idioms

• 空话

• 套话

Opposite Idioms

• 真材实料

• 实事求是