During the final years of the Qin Dynasty, a young farmhand named Chen Sheng in Yangcheng grew deeply resentful as he witnessed the brutal rule of the Qin emperor—heavy taxes, forced labor, building the Great Wall, and endless border defense—all of which made the people's lives unbearable.
One day, Chen Sheng and several fellow laborers were working in the fields. During a break, they sat together on a ridge, feeling bitter about their exhausting lives but powerless to change them.
Chen Sheng sighed and said, "Brothers, if any of us ever becomes wealthy and powerful, let's not forget the hardships we've shared today!" The laborers laughed and replied, "You're just a hired hand like us—how could you ever become wealthy?" Chen Sheng sighed again and said, "Ah, how can a sparrow understand the ambition of a swan?"
Chen Sheng compared his fellow laborers to swallows and sparrows, while likening himself to a swan, declaring, 'How can a short-sighted person understand the ambitions of one with grand aspirations?'
Upon hearing this, the hired laborers all burst into laughter.
Later, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up at Daze Township, becoming leaders of the great peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, truly fulfilling his lofty ambition.
Later, Chen Sheng succeeded in his uprising and became the King of Chen. When his former hired-worker friends came to the palace to visit him, Chen Sheng forgot his promise that "if we become rich and noble, we will not forget each other" and had them all killed, chilling people's hearts. In the end, he was deserted by his followers, and his uprising ultimately failed.
Later, the idiom "Honghu Zhi Zhi" came to symbolize lofty aspirations.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Hereditary House of Chen She"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "鸿鹄之志" came to describe lofty aspirations.