黑白不分 hēibái bù fēn Cannot distinguish black and white

Explanation

指不辨是非，不分好坏。比喻混淆黑白，颠倒是非。

Refers to the inability to distinguish right from wrong; a synonym for mixing black and white and reversing right and wrong.

Origin Story

在一个古老的村庄里，住着一位名叫阿福的青年。阿福为人善良，但缺乏明辨是非的能力，常常黑白不分。一天，村里发生了一件盗窃案，村长怀疑是阿强所为，因为阿强曾经有过偷窃的劣迹。但阿福却认为阿强不可能是罪犯，因为他觉得阿强平时为人老实，还经常帮助村里的老人干活，所以阿福坚持阿强是清白的。然而，事实证明，阿强确实是罪犯，他盗窃了村里许多财物。阿福的黑白不分，使他看不清事情的真相，误判了阿强的行为，也给村里带来了损失。通过这件事，阿福也开始反思自己的行为，并决心以后要加强自己的判断力，明辨是非，不再黑白不分。

zài yīgè gǔlǎo de cūnzhāng lǐ, zhù zhe yī wèi míng jiào ā fú de qīngnián. ā fú wéi rén shànliáng, dàn quēfá míngbiàn shìfēi de nénglì, chángcháng hēibái bù fēn. yī tiān, cūn lǐ fāshēng le yī jiàn dàoqiè àn, cūn zhǎng huáiyí shì ā qiáng suǒ wéi, yīnwèi ā qiáng céngjīng yǒuguò tōuqiè de lièjī. dàn ā fú què rènwéi ā qiáng bù kěnéng shì zuìfàn, yīnwèi tā juéde ā qiang píngshí wéi rén lǎoshí, hái chángcháng bāngzhù cūn lǐ de lǎorén gàn huó, suǒyǐ ā fú jiānchí ā qiáng shì qīngbái de. rán'ér, shìshí zhèngmíng, ā qiáng quèshí shì zuìfàn, tā dàoqiè le cūn lǐ xǔduō cáiwù. ā fú de hēibái bù fēn, shǐ tā kàn bù qīng shìqíng de zhēnxiàng, wùpàn le ā qiáng de xíngwéi, yě gěi cūn lǐ dài lái le sǔnshī. tōngguò zhè jiàn shì, ā fú yě kāishǐ fǎnsī zìjǐ de xíngwéi, bìng juéxīn yǐhòu yào jiāqiáng zìjǐ de pànduàn lì, míngbiàn shìfēi, bù zài hēibái bù fēn.

In an ancient village, there lived a young man named A Fu. A Fu was kind-hearted, but he lacked the ability to distinguish right from wrong, often failing to differentiate between black and white. One day, a theft occurred in the village, and the village head suspected A Qiang, as A Qiang had a history of theft. But A Fu believed A Qiang couldn't be the culprit, because he thought A Qiang was honest and often helped the elderly villagers with their work. So A Fu insisted that A Qiang was innocent. However, the truth proved that A Qiang was indeed the culprit, having stolen many of the village's valuables. A Fu's inability to distinguish right from wrong prevented him from seeing the truth and misjudged A Qiang's actions, causing losses to the village. Through this incident, A Fu began to reflect on his behavior and decided to improve his judgment, discern right from wrong, and no longer confuse black and white.

Usage

常用来形容对事情是非曲直辨别不清，也指故意混淆是非，制造混乱。

cháng yòng lái xíngróng duì shìqíng shìfēi qūzhí biànbie bù qīng, yě zhǐ gùyì hùnhuāo shìfēi, zhìzào hùnlun

Often used to describe someone's inability to distinguish right from wrong, or to describe someone intentionally creating confusion to cause chaos.

Examples

• 他黑白不分，是非不辨，真让人无奈。

  tā hēibái bù fēn, shìfēi bù biàn, zhēn ràng rén wú nài.

  He cannot distinguish between right and wrong, it's really frustrating.

• 这场官司，黑白不分，最终导致了冤假错案的发生。

  zhè chǎng guānsī, hēibái bù fēn, zuìzhōng dǎozhì le yuān jiǎ cuò'àn de fāshēng.

  This lawsuit was characterized by arbitrariness, resulting in miscarriages of justice.

• 在处理这件事上，他黑白不分，没有公正地对待每一个人。

  zài chǔlǐ zhè jiàn shì shang, tā hēibái bù fēn, méiyǒu gōngzhèng de duìdài měi yīgè rén

  He handled the matter unfairly, without fairly treating everyone, which was unjust..

Related Idioms

• 是非不分

• 混淆黑白

Opposite Idioms

• 黑白分明