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光彩夺目

晋武帝统一全国后，志满意得，完全沉湎在荒淫生活里。

在京都洛阳，当时有三个出名的大富豪：一个是掌管禁卫军的中护军羊琇，一个是晋武帝的舅父、后将军王恺，还有一个是散骑常侍石崇。

石崇到了洛阳，一听说王恺的豪富很出名，有心跟他比一比。他听说王恺家里洗锅子用饴（音ｙí）糖水，就命令他家厨房用蜡烛当柴火烧。这件事一传开，人家都说石崇家比王恺家阔气。

王恺为了炫耀自己富，又在他家门前的大路两旁，夹道四十里，用紫丝编成屏障。谁要上王恺家，都要经过这四十里紫丝屏障。这个奢华的装饰，把洛阳城轰动了。石崇成心压倒王恺。他用比紫丝贵重的彩缎，铺设了五十里屏障，比王恺的屏障更长，更豪华。

王恺又输了一着。但是他还不甘心罢休，向他的外甥晋武帝请求帮忙。晋武帝觉得这样的比赛挺有趣，就把宫里收藏的一株两尺多高的珊瑚树赐给王恺，好让王恺在众人面前夸耀一番。

有了皇帝帮忙，王恺比阔气的劲头更大了。他特地请石崇和一批官员上他家吃饭。
宴席上，王恺得意地对大家说：“我家有一件罕见的珊 瑚，请大家观赏一番怎么样？”　　大家当然都想看一看。王恺命令侍女把珊瑚树捧了出来。那株珊瑚有两尺高，长得枝条匀称，色泽粉红鲜艳。大家看了赞不绝 口，都说真是一件罕见的宝贝。　　只有石崇在一边冷笑。他看到案头正好有一支铁如意（一种器物），顺手抓起，朝着大珊瑚树正中，轻轻一砸。一株珊瑚被砸得 粉碎。

周围的官员们都大惊失色。主人王恺更是满脸通红，气急败坏地责问石崇：“你……你这是干什么！”　　石崇嬉皮笑脸地说：“您用不到生气，我还您就是了。”王恺又是痛心，又是生气，连声说：“好，好，你还我来。”

石崇立刻叫他随从的人回家去，把他家的珊瑚树统统搬来让王恺挑选。
不一会，一群随从回来，搬来了几十株珊瑚树。这些珊瑚中，三四尺高的就有六七株，大的竟比王恺的高出一倍。株株条干挺秀，光彩夺目。至于像王恺家那样的珊瑚，那就更多了。

周围的人都看呆了。王恺这才知道石崇家的财富，比他不知多出多少倍，也只好认输。

这场比阔气的闹剧就这样结束了。石崇的豪富就在洛阳出了名。当时有一个大臣傅咸，上了一道奏章给晋武帝。他说，这种严重的奢侈浪费，比天灾还要严重。现在这样比阔气，比奢侈，不但不被责罚，反而被认为是荣耀的事。这样下去怎么了得。

晋武帝看了奏章，根本不理睬。他跟石崇、王恺一样，一面加紧搜刮，一面穷奢极侈。西晋王朝一开始就这样腐败，这就注定要发生大乱了。

Light splendour grab eye

Now we learn a new phrase, which word-for-word means, “light splendour grab eye”, in other words, “dazzlingly bright.” The Chinese reads: Guang Cai Duo Mu. We use it to describe beautiful, brilliant things. There is an interesting story behind the idiom.

In the Western Jin晋 Dynasty, from the 3rd to 4th century AD, there was a very rich and powerful man called Shi Chong. When he was the prefectural governor of Jingzhou荆州, he ordered his men to rob merchants. He collected a lot of treasure by doing so, and became extremely rich.

At that time, general Wang Kai, uncle of the emperor, was also very rich. He and Shi Chong competed to see who was the richer. To show off, they used their finest collections to decorate their vehicles and clothes.

The emperor, who knew the two were competing, wanted Wang Kai to beat Shi Chong, so he gave him some of his treasure. The emperor once gave Wang Kai a beautiful, large piece of rare coral, with lots of delicate branches. Wang Kai thought he would surely beat Shi Chong this time.

He showed the coral to Shi Chong, and bragged about it. Shi Chong took a look at the coral, and sneered. Then he picked up a heavy iron rod, and smashed the coral into smithereens.

Wang Kai shouted out, “The coral was given to me by the emperor! How are you going to pay for it?”

Shi Chong replied, “What’s so special about a lump of coral like that? I’ll pay for it now.”

He then told his servants to bring out the coral he had collected. They came out with a few dozen pieces of coral, some so large they came up to a man’s waist. Six or seven of the pieces were amazingly bright, and many of them were at least as good as the one he had broken.

Wang Kai stared at all this fabulous coral. He was speechless!

The treasure collected by Shi Chong, one of the most famous rich men in China’s history, inspired the idiom Guang Cai Duo Mu – dazzlingly bright and brilliant. It is used to describe something that looks absolutely splendid. If you see something very beautiful and eye-catching, you can use the idiom Guang Cai Duo Mu.

(Source:english.cri.cn)