公冶非罪 — “To be unjustly accused or imprisoned”

公冶非罪 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to be unjustly accused or imprisoned”. To be wrongly convicted. Literally, “Gongye is innocent”.

Frequency

公冶非罪 Pronunciation and Pinyin

公冶非罪 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
公	gōng	4	public, common, impartial
冶	yě	7	smelt metals; gaudy; visit prostitutes
非	fēi	8	not, non-, wrong
罪	zuì	13	crime, sin, or fault

Example Sentence with 公冶非罪

他只是提出了不同的意见，却因此被排挤，真是公冶非罪啊。

He merely offered a different opinion, yet he was ostracized for it; it was truly an instance of being unjustly accused.

Origin and Story of 公冶非罪

During the Spring and Autumn period, a very intelligent man named Gongye Chang could understand the language of birds.

One day, while returning to the state of Lu from Wei, he overheard birds calling each other to come to Qingxi to feed on a deceased person's flesh. He then informed the deceased's mother. However, the local official misunderstood and judged Gongye Chang guilty, casting him into prison.

Sixty days later, Gongye Chang heard sparrows chirping that a cart of millet had overturned. The official, upon verifying this unusual detail, found it to be true, thus proving Gongye Chang's innocence and realizing his ability to understand birdsong.