During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, class tensions were escalating, and peasant uprisings erupted across many regions. Emperor Huan appointed Du Shang as the Inspector of Jingzhou, tasking him with suppressing these rebellions.
Du Shang was a ruthless and cunning official. During his brutal suppression of a peasant uprising, some rebels managed to escape his grasp. To shift the blame, Du Shang falsely accused the governor of Jiaozhi, Zhang Pan, of deserting the battlefield, claiming this was why the rebellion hadn't been fully crushed.
Emperor Huan ordered Zhang Pan's arrest and sent him to the Tingwei (the empire's highest judge) for trial. Soon a general amnesty was declared, and Zhang Pan was released, but he stubbornly refused to leave prison. The jailer, puzzled, asked, "The emperor has pardoned your crime—why won't you leave?"
Zhang Pan declared, "When the rebels rose up, I donned armor and braved countless dangers, striking down the fierce and beheading their leader, while the remnants fled like birds back to Jingzhou. Du Shang, fearing I would report to the emperor first and expose his crimes, rushed to falsely accuse me. I was thrown into prison, yet I am innocent—that is why the general amnesty does not apply to me. If I were to confess to this fabricated crime, I might be released now, but I would forever bear this undeserved disgrace."
Zhang Pan insisted on a face-to-face confrontation with Du Shang, declaring he would rather die in prison than accept the false accusation. When the truth was finally uncovered, it was confirmed that Du Shang had indeed framed Zhang Pan, and Zhang Pan's name was cleared. However, Du Shang, being a meritorious official in the imperial court's campaign to suppress peasant uprisings, escaped punishment entirely.
“She Wei Lu Xian” means to traverse dangers and experience perils. Later, it is used to describe overcoming numerous difficulties.
Source: *Book of the Later Han*, "Biography of Du Shang"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "涉危履险" came to describe overcoming numerous difficulties.