During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the renowned chancellor Wei Zheng once compiled and revised the ancient *Book of Rites*, titling his work *Classified Rites*.
The *Book of Rites*, a Spring and Autumn period treatise on rituals traditionally compiled by Dai Sheng of the Western Han, was later revised and expanded by Wei Zheng during the Tang Dynasty to reflect contemporary practices.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, a minister submitted a memorial to the throne, arguing that the *Book of Rites*, compiled during the Western Han Dynasty, was outdated and proposed replacing it with the *Classified Rites* as a Confucian classic.
Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty agreed and ordered Yuan Xingchong, a Ministry of Rites official, to lead a team in collating and annotating the *Classified Rites* compiled by Wei Zheng.
After some time, Yuan Xingchong completed his task, dividing Wei Zheng's *Classified Rites* into fifty chapters with annotations, and presented it to Emperor Xuanzong.
Emperor Xuanzong glanced through it, then handed it to his right chancellor Zhang Yue, seeking his opinion.
Zhang Shuo said, "The *Book of Rites* has been a Confucian classic for generations, and the commentary by the renowned Eastern Han scholar Zheng Xuan is highly influential. I see no need to replace it with Wei Zheng's *Classified Rites*."
Hearing this, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang changed his mind.
Dissatisfied with the situation, Yuan Xingchong wrote an essay titled "Resolving Doubts," structured as a dialogue between a host and a guest.
A guest asked, "Which is truly better—the old *Book of Rites* or Wei Zheng's *Classified Rites*?" The host replied, "Since the Han Dynasty, countless scholars have revised and annotated the *Book of Rites*, leaving it riddled with contradictions. Wei Zheng's *Classified Rites* is far superior." The guest pressed, "Then why do some oppose replacing the *Book of Rites* with it?" The host said, "What do you think?" The guest answered, "It's like a game of chess—those in the midst of play grow confused, while the onlookers see everything clearly." From this, the idiom "the onlooker sees clearly" came to describe how outsiders often perceive a situation more fully than those directly involved.
Source: *Old Book of Tang*, "Biography of Yuan Xingchong"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "旁观者清" came to describe how outsiders often perceive a situation more fully than those directly involved.