In 766 AD, the great Tang poet Du Fu, having lost his patron Yan Wu after the military governor's death, left his Chengdu cottage and journeyed east to Kuizhou.
During his two-plus years in Kuizhou, Du Fu wrote many poems that used objects to express his feelings, and "Tying Up the Chicken" is one of them.
Du Fu kept several chickens at home, and they often pecked at insects and ants. His wife, deeply pitying the lives of these tiny creatures, grew to detest the chickens. One day, seeing the chickens pecking again, she ordered a servant to tie them up and sell them at the market.
As the servants grabbed the chickens one by one to tie them up, the birds struggled desperately, their cries pitiful and their plight heartbreaking. Du Fu watched, his heart heavy with compassion. "Untie them," he ordered. "Let them go."
Du Fu thought to himself: My wife, out of pity for the insects and ants, did not hesitate to sell the chicken, which indeed protected them; but once the chicken is sold, won't it also be slaughtered and cooked for food? Why treat the insects and ants and the chicken so differently?
But then he reconsidered: the chicken and the insect could not both survive—either the bug would die, or the chicken would end up cooked. Saving it this time wouldn't save it the next, since the chicken itself was ultimately destined for the pot. In the end, both were trivial creatures, hardly worth worrying over their fates.
Reflecting on this, Du Fu gained a new perspective and wrote the poem "Tying the Chicken," which includes the lines: "The gain and loss of chicken and worm are endless; I gaze at the cold river, leaning on the mountain pavilion." Matters of right and wrong, like a chicken pecking at insects and a person tying up the chicken, are common occurrences—there is no absolute "should" or "should not." He realized he should broaden his vision and not get entangled in such trivial gains and losses. Later, the idiom "Chicken and Worm Gain and Loss" came to describe insignificant, petty gains or losses.
Source: Du Fu (Tang Dynasty), "The Chicken Tying"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "鸡虫得失" came to describe insignificant, petty gains or losses.