Chen Fan, a famous figure of the Eastern Han Dynasty, never cleaned his own room as a teenager, leaving it filthy with fallen leaves and weeds in the yard. One day, his father's friend Xue Qin visited and, seeing the mess, remarked, "Young man, why don't you sweep the room clean?"
Chen Fan replied, "A true man should sweep the world clean, not just one room!"
Chen Fan's extraordinary words left Xue Qin secretly marveling, thinking to himself, "This child's ambition is truly remarkable!"
Later, when Chen Fan served as an official in the Eastern Han court, he refused to overlook any act of lawlessness he encountered. True to his word, he went on to accomplish great deeds that swept the realm clean of corruption and evil.
A man named Zhao Xuan buried his parents and then lived in the tomb passage to observe mourning for over twenty years. The villagers praised him as a filial son, and local officials repeatedly offered him positions, which he refused, earning him great fame. Eventually, officials recommended him to Prefect Chen Fan. Chen Fan investigated and discovered that Zhao Xuan had fathered five sons while living in the tomb passage. Without mercy, Chen Fan charged him with deceiving the public and cheating the spirits, punishing this false filial son.
Chen Fan never turned a blind eye to the emperor's mistakes, always offering direct and honest remonstrance.
For example, when the emperor kept thousands of palace maids in the harem, Chen Fan admonished, "These maids eat meat, wear silk, and use cosmetics daily—the expense is too great. You should release some of them." The emperor had no choice but to comply, releasing over five hundred maids from the palace and restoring their freedom.
For example, when the emperor ordered the carriage to go hunting, Chen Fan advised against it, saying:
"Even in times of peace, hunting should be restrained, let alone now when the nation faces three voids—empty fields, empty court, empty granaries—compounded by ongoing warfare and families torn apart across the land. As emperor, you should be consumed with worry, sitting awake until dawn, not idly indulging in hunting!"
During the Yanxi era, peasant uprisings broke out in Lingling and Guiyang. The ministers unanimously advocated suppression, but only Chen Fan stood up to voice a different opinion. He submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying:
"These two prefectures' people are Your Excellency's children. If they rebelled, wasn't it because local officials and magnates were too greedy and cruel, forcing them to it? If you can strictly investigate and replace those officials who have lost harmony and oppressed the people, and instead appoint good officials who govern by law and care for the people, there will be no need to mobilize troops to suppress them—the rebellion will subside on its own."
In his later years, the upright official Chen Fan witnessed eunuchs corrupting the court. He allied with the imperial relative Dou Wu to wipe out the eunuch faction in one decisive strike. But their plan leaked, and the eunuchs forged an imperial decree to arrest and execute Chen Fan. At over seventy years old, he gave his life in the quest to sweep the realm clean.
"The idiom 'sweep the world clean' means to cleanse the world of evil and govern the country well."
Source: *Book of the Later Han*, Chapter "Biography of Chen Fan"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "扫除天下" came to describe how to cleanse the world of evil and govern the country well.