一手遮天 — “To use one's power and influence to manipulate situations”

一手遮天 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to use one's power and influence to manipulate situations”. Deceive the public, and conceal the truth, often implying corruption or abuse of authority. Literally, “To cover the sky with one hand”.

Frequency

一手遮天 Pronunciation and Pinyin

一手遮天 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
一	yī	1	one, a, single, whole
手	shǒu	4	hand, skill, person, handy
遮	zhē	14	to cover or block
天	tiān	4	sky, heaven, day, nature

Example Sentence with 一手遮天

这位高层管理者试图一手遮天，隐瞒公司内部的严重问题，让普通员工蒙在鼓里

The senior manager attempted to manipulate information and cover up serious internal issues within the company, keeping the ordinary employees in the dark.

Origin and Story of 一手遮天

Li Si, originally from Shangcai in the State of Chu, later came to Qin. He advised the King of Qin to use money to bribe the nobles and officials of the other six states; if bribery failed, he would send assassins. He also sowed discord among the six states, then sent troops to attack them. Over twenty years later, the King of Qin unified the realm.

Li Si then submitted another memorial, stating: "The world will fall into great disorder because of various schools of thought; when people hear them, their minds will wander. Now that the world is unified, please establish complete laws and destroy all books from the Hundred Schools of Thought, and then the world will be peaceful." Qin Shi Huang followed his advice.

In the late Tang Dynasty, the poet Cao Ye wrote: "It is wrong to gain national interests through deception and instigation. It is self-destruction to restrict people's thoughts with laws. How can one hand possibly cover the eyes of all under heaven?" (難將一人手，掩得天下目。)