Pan Yue excelled in poetry and rhapsodies, with ornate diction and unparalleled literary fame, representing the Taikang style of the Western Jin Dynasty. He was as renowned as Lu Ji, and later generations called them "Pan and Lu."
Though Pan Yue was renowned for his literary talent, his official career was far from smooth—it was not until he was nearly thirty that he was appointed magistrate of Heyang County, and soon after transferred to Huaixian County. Despite achieving notable political accomplishments in both posts, he often felt a deep sense of frustration and unfulfilled ambition.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, was a mentally disabled ruler, with real power held by Empress Jia Nanfeng. To consolidate her influence, Empress Jia heavily promoted her relatives, appointing Jia Mi—the grandson of her father Jia Chong—as a high-ranking imperial advisor and general, making him an overwhelmingly powerful figure.
Pan Yue, eager to curry favor with the powerful, attached himself to Jia Mi. Alongside the famed tycoon Shi Chong, he flattered and fawned over Jia Mi. Whenever they spotted the dust kicked up by Jia Mi's carriage on the road, they would halt their own chariots on the left side, bowing low in worship of the rising dust. Through Jia Mi's influence with Empress Jia, Pan Yue was appointed as a court author, then a palace attendant, and finally granted the title of Imperial Advisor.
Pan Yue's mother strongly disapproved of her son's behavior and scolded him several times, saying, "You are now an imperial advisor in the palace—you should be content. Why must you flatter the powerful and run around tirelessly?"
Despite his mother's earnest warnings, Pan Yue continued to bow low whenever he saw Jia Mi's carriage approaching, even pressing his forehead to the dust kicked up by the wheels.
After Empress Jia had monopolized power for ten years, the "War of the Eight Princes" broke out in the Western Jin Dynasty. Empress Jia and Jia Mi were both killed by Sima Lun, the Prince of Zhao. Sun Xiu, a trusted aide of Prince Zhao Lun and the Imperial Secretary, had once been a clerk in Pan Yue's mansion and had been flogged by Pan Yue. Seeing that Pan Yue had lost his backing, Sun Xiu seized the opportunity to retaliate, falsely accusing Pan Yue of being a rebel and sentencing him to death.
Before execution, Pan Yue bid farewell to his mother, bitterly regretting that he had not heeded her advice. Weeping, he said, "Mother, had I listened to you, I would not be here today!" Later, the idiom "worshipping the dust" came to describe fawning on the powerful and groveling before them.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Pan Yue"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "望尘而拜" came to describe fawning on the powerful and groveling before them.