Han Yu, the great Tang Dynasty literary giant, passed the imperial exams at thirty-five and served as a professor at the Imperial Academy before becoming Vice Minister of Justice. When Emperor Xianzong planned to bring the sacred Buddha bone from Famen Temple in Fengxiang to the capital for veneration, Han Yu vehemently opposed it, writing a memorial that so angered the emperor he was exiled to serve as governor of remote Chaozhou in the south.
Upon arriving in Chaozhou to take up his post, Han Yu was deeply concerned for the people's welfare. Hearing that a local river called the Evil Creek was infested with crocodiles that attacked both people and livestock, he personally went to inspect the creek, determined to rid the area of this menace.
He first composed a "Proclamation to the Crocodiles," then ordered his judge Qin Ji to cast pigs and sheep into the stream as offerings for the crocodiles to devour, before personally conducting the ceremony and reciting the proclamation aloud.
In this essay, Han Yu ordered the crocodiles to relocate to the South China Sea within seven days, warning that if they were wise, they would leave on their own, but if stubborn, he would send soldiers to hunt them down.
What seemed like an absurd decree unexpectedly produced a miracle. That very night, a sudden downpour and a mild earthquake altered the geography and currents of the Evil Creek, making it uninhabitable for the crocodiles, which indeed moved away.
When word spread, the people revered the new prefect as a divine figure, and Han Yu was naturally overjoyed.
Soon after, Han Yu was recalled to the capital by Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty and appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
The people of Chaozhou, deeply grateful for Han Yu's kindness and virtue, built a temple in his honor to offer sacrifices and remember him. It is said that traces of this ancient site still remain in Chaozhou to this day.
Later, the idiom "Stubborn and Obtuse" came to describe someone foolish and ignorant.
Source: *Collected Works of Han Yu* (Tang Dynasty)
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "冥顽不灵" came to describe how someone foolish and ignorant.